09 Sep 90% (Because Life is 10% What Happens to You and 90% How You Respond to It)

A few years back I was about to preach at a church in East Tennessee. The Saturday night prior to this engagement I was out to dinner with my parents and lovely wife. When the waitress came and gave us our water, she spilled them all over my dad and me. Not just a little bit…it looked like we wet our pants! As you can imagine our waitress was mortified. She braced herself for the abuse she thought she was about to encounter. To her surprise we all laughed about it and truly encouraged her. We chose joy and a good attitude throughout the entire meal and we even gave her a big tip at the end of the meal!

The next day I preached at this church about one of my favorite subjects…joy! After the message a man came up to me and expressed how much the message ministered to him particularly when coupled with the message I ministered the night before. Knowing I had not preached on Saturday evening, I inquired as to his meaning. He proceeded to explain to me that he had been at that restaurant the Saturday before and had watched the entire “water spilling fiasco” unfold. He did not know that I was going to be the guest speaker at his church the next day. When I got up and ministered, my message made an extra connection with him because he had seen it lived out the night before! Thank God I chose to have a good attitude!

Over the last several weeks we have shared “13 Aspects of Attitude”:

1. Attitude is your “advance man”

2. People meet your attitude before they meet you!

3. Attitude roots are inward, but its fruits are outward.

4. Our attitude is either our best friend or our worst enemy.

5. Our attitude is more honest than our words.

6. Attitude draws people to us.

7. Attitude repels people from us.

8. It only takes a moment to make an attitude adjustment.

9. The attitude you presently have is the one you’ve presently chosen.

10. Attitude will take you farther than your IQ.

11. Don’t be rude in your ‘tude’…be renewed in your ‘tude’!

12. Attitude will determine your altitude.

13. We must take personal responsibility for our own attitude.

We also began to discuss “6 Attitude Axioms”:

1)      Our attitude determines our approach to life (Prov. 23:7).

2)      Our attitude determines our relationship with people (Rom. 14:19).

3)      Our attitude can be the difference between success and failure (Phil. 4:13).

This week let’s continue…

4)      Our attitude will determine how we approach our daily tasks (Ps. 118:24).

Have you ever heard the phrase “All’s well that ends well”? That certainly is true (see Ecclesiastes 7:8), but equally true is “All’s well that begins well”. Most projects, tasks and days fail or succeed before they begin. 

Not too long ago, I read a story about a seasoned mountain climber and a beginner. As they ascended a very tall mountain, they pitched camp to spend the night at a very high altitude. In the morning as the sun came up over the mountain, the novice mountain climber was awakened to loud crackling noises. Terrified, he awakened the expert because he thought the ice was going to cave in and they were both going to die. The expert mountain climber calmly reassured the novice that this was the sound he has heard many times before…it was simply the warmth of the sun melting the new ice. It was the beginning of a beautiful day and a great day to climb! One man’s Armageddon is another man’s beautiful new day!

How many times have we been guilty of viewing life’s future challenges through the sunset of life, rather than through the sunrise of a bright new day! The Bible tells us in Psalm 118:24, “This is the day the Lord has made, I WILL rejoice and be glad in it.” Most of us know this verse but few of us know the context.

In Matthew 25-26, Jesus is about to be crucified. Jesus, when He came to this earth, studied the Old Testament. He knew it well. He knew what agony the crucifixion would bring. He knew Isaiah 50:6 where it tells us that they would whip Him so badly it would pluck out his facial hair. He knew Isaiah 52:14 where the Word of God tells us that “his visage would be marred more than any other man”. In other words, he would be beaten so badly he would be unrecognizable.

Jesus knew Psalm 22:17 where it tells us that He would be beaten so badly his ribs would be exposed! Yet the Bible tells us in Matthew 26:20 that after the Passover, He and His disciples sang a hymn. Now I want to tell you I don’t know the melody, but I do know the lyrics of the song. “Pastor Jim, I knew you were old, but I didn’t think you were that old!”

It was Jewish custom to sing Psalm 118 after Passover and as you know, Psalm 118:24 comes at the very end of Psalm 118! “This is the day the Lord has made I WILL REJOICE and be glad in it.” “The day” that the psalmist is talking about is the day of Christ’s crucifixion! Now can you see just how powerful this verse is?! This was Jesus choosing joy before the most agonizing day that any human has ever faced in the history of all mankind! It is true…all’s well that begins well!

Next week we’ll continue our series!