Attitude Adjustment

I have been getting up on Monday mornings with a bad attitude for a while now, it has happened so often that I am starting to notice it.  I know today is Tuesday and my attitude is better and it seems to take a turn for the better as the week progresses.  This has been happening for a couple of months or more and is really starting to bother me.

I wonder if Jesus ever woke up with a bad attitude or was He exempt from this kind of thing?  I know when Jesus entered the Temple at one time He had a righteous indignation, a righteous anger, but He never sinned.  In Matthew 21:12-13, you might say when Jesus saw what was happening in the Temple area His attitude changed and He became upset and angry.  I think there were different times in the Word that Jesus had a righteous anger.  When Jesus cursed the fig tree in this same chapter in verses 18-21, He wasn’t happy because the tree had no fruit on it.  

But His anger was against empty religion, religion that bears no fruit, has no substance.  Looking good on the outside, like the fig tree, has not much bearing on what is going on, on the inside.  Like James says, “faith without works is dead,” in other words if you claim to have a vibrant religion and bear no fruit, you are just fooling yourself, vibrant religion and faith results in bearing much fruit.  

Now getting back to my attitude on Monday’s, or any other time, it doesn’t have to ruin my day, my week or the rest of my life.  I have a choice, I can choose to walk around with a bad attitude and discourage everyone around me or I can chose to exchange that bad attitude for a good one by thinking more positive and giving that bad attitude to the Lord.  You are controlled by the way you think.  If you think negatively that is the kind of person you will be, if you think positively you will be a positive person and what you say and do will reflect whatever your attitude is at the moment.  You can be dominated by your bad attitude and your anger, or you can direct them in the right direction and not let them control your life.  

Jesus’ attitude changed and He became angry when He saw what was going on in His Father’s house and was justified for how He reacted to it, but He didn’t let it dictate the rest of His day and how He would act, He got His point across and moved on with compassion.  How do I know this?  Because it says this right after the Temple incident in verse 14, “And the blind and the lame came to Him in the Temple: and He healed them.”  If He would have let the anger control Him, He may have stormed out of the Temple and no one would have benefited in a positive way whatsoever.  What if Jesus let His anger alter His way of thinking in a negative way the rest of the time He walked the earth?  Things would have turned out much different than they did.

Think about this, how many times have you been angry and spewed your anger out on everyone around you?  I have been guilty of this many times and I don’t think that I am alone; no, I think it happens far too often in and out of the church and your enemy loves it when this happens.  Bad attitudes and anger cause all kinds of problems.  We all need to learn the lesson that Jesus demonstrated.  Be angry but not sin, not letting your attitude and anger control your life.  I hope this blog has been an encouragement to you.  May God bless you and yours and may you have a great day!!