Your Attitude Determines Your Future!

by Pastor Mitch Horton | January 2004

"For as He thinks in his heart, so is he." (Proverbs 23:7).

"But as a matter of fact it matters very little to me what you, or any man thinks of me - I don't even value my opinion of myself" (1 Corinthians 4:3, J.B. Phillips Trans.).

A truth that rules us is that our attitude determines the course of our lives! How we see ourselves determines how we respond in every circumstance of life! If we see ourselves as underprivileged, poor, weak, unworthy, neglected, abused, etc., then we will act out of that mindset, and will be hindered from receiving God's highest and best for our lives!

When we think of ourselves, we often are reminded of our various weaknesses. But God has a different perspective. We see our weaknesses, but God sees our strengths!

Remember what God said to the prophet Samuel when choosing a king for Israel from one of the son's of Jesse; "But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart'" (1 Samuel 16:7).

By outward appearance, Abram was a most unlikely candidate to begin a new nation, and to become the "father" of faith! Outwardly, he came from Ur of the Chaldeans, a city of moon worshippers! He was a pagan from a pagan family. But God saw a treasure in him, and changed his thoughts about him by changing his name from Abram to Abraham (Father of a multitude)!

Joseph's attitude about himself was changed through a dream he had when he was 17 years old. He saw his family bowing before him in the dream, and knew that he was destined to be a leader. Though he endured some unfair circumstances, he always excelled! He had the attitude of a leader even as a prisoner!

We need to carefully guard our attitudes and opinions of ourselves. Instead of focusing on our weaknesses or strengths, we need to learn to focus on Jesus! II Corinthians 5:16 reads, "So from this moment on, I do not estimate anybody by the standard of outward appearance." (Williams Translation) God sees us in the light of our relationship with Him, completely disassociated from the events that have hindered us in life!

We are encouraged to "look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith" in Hebrews 12:1-2. In the context of the verse, we are told that many witnesses are watching us run our race of faith. We are admonished to lay aside any weight or sin that would impede our progress. The Greek runners are referred to here as they ran in a race. The natural tendency was to look around to see how they were performing compared to the other runners around them. The runner would lose stride if he took his eyes off the finish line ahead and took a momentary gaze at fellow athletes and their progress.

The word "looking" in Hebrews 12:2 actually means to turn the eyes away from other things and fix them on something. The Amplified Bible translation of this phrase reads, "Looking away from all that would distract unto Jesus." We get distracted from God's best for our lives when we look away from Him and gaze on our insecurities and weaknesses. We become what we gaze at the most!

You may remember the story of the frog and the centipede. The frog asked the centipede, "How do you walk? Which of your feet moves first?" The centipede was completely incapacitated as he was trying to determine which foot moved first. He was completely paralyzed. The sun then moved from behind the clouds and the centipede looked away to it. He forgot about his feet and started running! We too are immobilized when we look at ourselves and our own shortcomings!

There is another story about an American Indian who found an eagle's egg and put it in the nest of a prairie chicken. The little eaglet hatched with the rest of the chicks and grew up with them.

All of his life the eagle thought he was a prairie chicken. He scratched around in the dirt for seeds and insects to eat just like the rest of the prairie chicken. He flapped his wings and flew short distances just above the ground. After all, he was just a prairie chicken.

After many years had passed, the eagle grew old. On a bright sunny day he looked up and noticed a bird flying high in the sky, gracefully gliding with outstretched wings as the wind currents moved him effortlessly along.

The eagle pointed to the sky as he said to his neighbor, "What a beautiful bird!"
"That's an eagle, and he's one of the strongest birds and most majestic birds," the neighbor clucked. "But don't even consider it; you could never be like him."
The eagle never thought about again, and died thinking he was a prairie chicken.
The eagle was created to soar high in the atmosphere, and yet it pecked out its existence with simple prairie chicken!

We are created to rule and reign with Jesus! We are seated with Him in a position of authority over the forces of darkness! And we limit ourselves when we look only at our humanness! God has destined us all to be winners and overcome the affects of our past conditioning!

Only two out the twelve spies sent into Canaan by Moses actually believed they could conquer the enemies in the land and claim it as their own. The other ten spies saw themselves as grasshoppers in the sight of the "giants" that were in the land! In both cases, what they saw ruled their lives. The ten spies never entered the Promised Land. But Joshua and Caleb, who saw the giants in comparison to God's greatness, enjoyed walking into the land in their old age!

What you believe about yourself right now is determining how you live your life. I want to encourage you today to begin to change what you think about yourself by speaking out loud confessions of faith concerning what the Word of God says you are in Christ Jesus! You'll be changed into the "new you" that Jesus created you to be when He called you if you'll make a decision to change your grasshopper mentality and only believe about yourself what the scriptures declares you to be!

I'll close with a few quotes concerning attitude. Let's force the adjustments necessary for us to win life's race!

"I am convinced that with the right mental attitude, all the setbacks in the world will not make you a failure. On the flip side, with the wrong mental attitude, all the help in the world will not make you a success" (Glenn Van Ekeren).

"Our beliefs about what we are and what we can be precisely determine what we will be" (Anthony Robbins).

"Man's rise or fall, success or failure, happiness or unhappiness depends on his attitude.a man's attitude will create the situation he imagines" (James Allen).

"Think you can, think you can't; either way, you'll be right" (Henry Ford).