A Godly Man Has a Positive Attitude

Written by Brian Jennings, Posted in Blog, Lead Yourself

The following is 1 of the Thirteen Essential Traits of a Godly Man we communicated to our son, Cole, when he recently entered his teenage years. I continue to try to emulate and teach these to him. All men would do well to pursue them with all they have.

We also put together a book from these writings titled Journey to Manhood. You can download the entire book if you click here.

A Godly Man Has a Positive Attitude (by Alan Morton)

A Godly man has a positive attitude. Your attitude is your choice. No one else’s. Choose a good one!

Can you identify some times when your attitude is negative? God’s gifts for maintaining a positive attitude cancel any negative thoughts that interfere with your positive attitude. But if left alone, these negative thoughts always manifest into actions or words. Just as a pool of water gets stagnant without a fresh supply, so your attitude will sour when you sit around. When you feel this coming, go on a bike ride, take a long walk, climb a hill, or seek a challenge. Ask God for a new attitude.

Allow your attitude to play make-believe. How boring life would be if we knew how everything and everyone would react to us. Acknowledge that your life is God’s plan and you are only turning one page a day in His book for you. Tomorrow may bring unexpected disappointment or joy. Embrace both with the same thought: “God put this in front of me to help me grow according to His plan.”

Emotions, no matter how powerful, are short-term in relation to your full life. You are in the driver’s seat. You have the steering wheel. On a bumpy road, we don’t let go of the wheel.

Wear your attitude as you would wear your finest robe in front of Christ for the first time you meet Him. Others along life’s journey will wear negative thoughts, negative words, and unkind feelings towards others. You must not agree with them. This doesn’t mean they are bad people. It means they have chosen a non-positive attitude and attempted to spread their germs to you. Instead, find the hidden jewel and have a positive thought about the issue being discussed.

Help others who have a poor attitude, as much as you can, and allow God to help the ones you can’t help. There is no need to point out someone else’s poor attitude. Find an encouragement you can share with them that is short, sincere, meaningful and never false. This won’t always change their attitude, but will definitely block their attitude from affecting you. There are many ways to do this:

Smile
Open a door
Use the term ‘Sir” or Ma’am”
Be a gift in their life for that moment
“Yes the baseball game was rained out. Can’t wait to see an awesome rainbow.”

Another way to defend your attitude is to maintain eye contact. As they explain how wrong you are, how terrible you are, how you are less than your ability, look back into their eyes and acknowledge their attitude will not change yours.

Let’s expand a simple statement: “If you cannot say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. And toss that negative thought out of your mind as you would spit out a piece of rotten food. If you keep chewing the negative thought, it will expand so big that you can’t even swallow.”

The life God planned for you is short. Don’t waste a moment on a poor attitude. It’s ok to want some time to recharge once in a while to protect a positive attitude. Ever notice some folks that choose to have poor attitudes can go on for a long time without recharging?

You love righteousness, and hate wickedness: therefore, my God has anointed you with the oil of gladness above all others.” (Psalms 45:7)

God wants you to defeat wickedness, including poor attitudes. He has empowered you to have strength over your fellow man’s bad attitudes. You can do this. Honor God and bless the world with your positive attitude.