2209 The Jesus Attitude

You and I are called to have the same attitude as Jesus.

That sounds beautiful, doesn’t it? And then you get out of bed.

Someone has already left a mess in the kitchen. You have too much to do and not enough time to do it. Someone says something that rubs you the wrong way. Your plans get interrupted. You feel overlooked. Somebody isn’t pulling their weight. And suddenly, before you’ve even finished your coffee, your attitude is showing you exactly what is happening inside your heart.

So let’s get personal. What is your attitude?

Not the attitude you wish you had. Not the attitude people think you have. Not the attitude you have when everything is going your way.

What is your attitude when you’re tired? When you’re inconvenienced? When you don’t get your way? When someone doesn’t appreciate you? When you feel misunderstood? Those moments reveal something.

Viktor Frankl said, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” Your attitude is your choice. It’s the way you think about what is happening, the way you interpret it, and ultimately the way you respond.

And your attitude doesn’t just affect you. It walks into the room before you do. It sits at the dinner table with your family. It gets in the car with you. It shows up in your texts. It comes to work with you. It affects the way you listen, the way you speak, the way you love, and the way you treat people.

Your attitude is shaping your everyday life. And sometimes… our attitude is the thing making an ordinary day harder than it needs to be.

Have you ever shared a house with someone who had a bad attitude? You know what I’m talking about. The sighs. The short answers. The eye rolls. The silence. The irritated tone. You can feel it before they even say anything.

Now here’s the uncomfortable question: Have you ever been that person? Have you ever walked into a room carrying an attitude and expected everybody else to adjust to you? I have. And if we’re honest, we all have.

So how do we snap out of it? How do we stop letting our circumstances dictate our attitude? Well, let’s put it simply … we stop being so self-centered. When we make life all about us, our attitude suffers.

Paul tells us like it is. Philippians 2:3–5 says: “Don’t be selfish: don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.”

We have a unique way of continually making everything about ourselves. It’s what we want, how we feel, what we think. We end up spending our days in these self-absorbed worlds where our primary objective is to make everything easier for us, all while making everyone like us. Funny, because we never see Jesus doing either of those things.

It’s hard to admit how selfish we really are. But when we’re being honest, even the kind, generous, giving things we do are most often about making ourselves look or feel good. And if you think living with humility is hard today, consider how hard it was in the time when Jesus walked this earth. During Biblical times, humility was often seen as an absolute weakness. Social status was honored. It was all about what you were wearing, who you had to your house for dinner, and who you were seen with. You were either in, or you were out – everyone wanted to be in.

Then comes Jesus and he flips everything upside down.

He holds more power than anyone and everyone in all the world, yet he is without a palace. He had no value for money or riches or status. He let people talk about him. He performed miracles without explanation or a need to be understood. He let them make their assumptions. He let them join him, or just walk away. He took 12 men, and he changed the world forever.

And he did it all with humility. Wearing sandals, walking from town to town, staying where a place was offered, with no agenda other than fulfilling his Father’s will.

Was Jesus selfish? No. He literally gave up Heaven to come save us.

Was Jesus trying to impress anyone? No. He had all the power in the world to shut down every negative opinion and prove them all wrong in an instant. He could have called down a thousand angels to fight for him – that would have been impressive. But he didn’t. Instead, he let them nail him to the cross and crucify him.

And there, hanging on that cross, he shows us how to think about others more than we think about ourselves. I assure you he was not comfortable. Without a doubt he was suffering. This was NOT the easy way. Yet, he chose it – for you and for me. Then, he let us make up our own minds about him. Still today, we can live our lives for him, or deny him. He will let us make our own decision.

And Paul writes, “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.”

Girls, how do we do that today? We start by asking a different question.

Instead of, “How can I get this day to go the way I want it to go?” we begin asking, “Jesus, how can I love the people in front of me today?” That’s a completely different way to live.

The goal isn’t to wake up every morning and force yourself to have a better attitude. The goal is to become so aware of Jesus that you begin responding to life the way He would.

When your husband says something that irritates you, you have a choice. You can make the moment about being right, or you can make it about loving him.

When your kids interrupt you for the hundredth time, you can see them as an inte