Philippians 2:5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.

Attitude is enormously important. Just ask any pilot! In flying, attitude is whether the nose of the plane is pointed up or down, and that really isn’t so different from how the word applies to human beings. Attitude isn’t a matter of where you are, it’s a matter of where you are looking, where you are headed. If someone’s got a “bad attitude,” you can be perfectly nice to them and still get a nasty response. The ultimate “good attitude” is naturally seen in Jesus. He went through stuff that no one should have to endure, and yet He still prayed from the cross, “Father, forgive them.” He wasn’t focused on what He was going through, He was focused on the outcome. As it says in Hebrews 12:2, He, “for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Paul says that we should have Jesus’ attitude, and from verse 6 on he gives a poetic description of Jesus’ attitude in practical terms, that is, in what He did. This passage can stand a lot of careful thought and meditation! None of us could claim that we have done as much or gone through as much as Jesus did for our sake, so the takeaway is, quit griping! When our focus is on serving Christ and pleasing Him, trusting Him for an eternal reward that is beyond our imaginations, then “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,” as Shakespeare put it, become relatively insignificant to us. That’s a good attitude, and it leads to peace and joy that can be had no other way.

I am at times amazed at how really minor things can set me off, and that’s no fun at all. It’s easy for me to spot bad attitudes in others, but my own isn’t always right. Paul makes it clear that attitude is a choice, just as a pilot adjusts the ailerons in the tail of the plane to set where the nose is pointed. Sometimes I just need to get my tail in gear! When my focus is on the material, and “what’s in it for me,” then I’m not headed in the right direction. As a pastor, it’s easy to see others having the wrong focus, but looking down on them will only blind me to my own attitudinal mistakes. I need to receive God’s grace for myself and extend it to others, so that together we may walk in all that He intends for us, for our blessing and His glory.

Father, thank You for such a pithy picture of how we need to live. Help me not just say, “oh that’s nice,” but rather follow through in practical obedience, so that the traps of the enemy may be overcome and Your will be done, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!