"Attitude Adjustment"

Passage: Philippians 2:14

"Do everything without complaining or arguing,"

Parents

Okay gang... listen up! Today I have the rare and wonderful task of addressing you from more than one position! You may be thinking, "Oh great! He's gonna write while standing and sitting at the same time!", but I assure you - I am sitting all the way!

No, today I am writing from the position of being a parent... and also from that of being the child of parents. (I know this may come as a surprise to you, but statistics suggest that if your grandparents didn't have any children, neither will you!)

Parents are wierd. I mean, let's just call a spade a spade! They get everything they want in life, and seem to take great pleasure in making our lives miserable. Or at least, that may be how it SEEMS to some of you. I can remember quite well that that was what I thought when I was growing up. Now that I am one... I see how misunderstood we parents are - and yet - such is the spice of which life is made.

As a parent, I have established a number of phrases that I use with great regularity in the process of bringing up my two boys. One that seems to be more prevalent than most is, "Son, you need an attitude adjustment!" To be fair, it is often the fact that they are not the only ones needing to djust their attitudes - I, myself need to work on the way I allow my feelings to come out and see the light of day from time to time.

But what *is* this "attitude adjustment"? What must I do to get it adjusted, and tell me again, WHY should I adjust mine? Ah yes... the ever-present... WHY! How important this word is to today's teens! Without that one word, almost half of our entire vocabulary would be wiped out! Never fear - the WHY is here!

In the Bible, Paul, the author of Philippians writes that we are to "Do everything without complaining or arguing." What, is this guy nuts?? He obviously didn't have my Chemistry teacher, or have to deal with the rules and impositions that my parents made on me as a kid.

Well... Paul was on to something - and I'd like to share it with you. You see, almost as if he himself was at one time a teenager, Paul filled in the answer to the question, WHY? He tells us that we are to do everything without complaining or arguing so that we might become blameless and pure, children of God without fault! He said that if such were the case, we'd shine like stars in the universe, surrounded by a crooked and depraved generation.

Wow - if I didn't know any better, I'd say that Paul had insight into 1998, and that he even might have looked into the American system of government, and correctly identified the problems therein! But, I digress... (grin)

Paul tells us that we need to adjust our attitude to that of one that will bring glory and honor to the Lord, so that we might stand out as shining stars!! And, if I remember my Scriptures correctly, (and I do), Jesus also addressed the issue of "standing out as lights...". He said, "In the same way, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

And you want to know the really cool thing? Paul was not present to hear Jesus say that! He was inspired by the Holy Spirit (the third member of the Godhead, and as much God as Jesus Himself) to record that in Philippians. I believe that because of this obvious repetition in the Word, that we should sit up and take notice of this - and then, as James tells us in James 1:22, we should then DO WHAT IT SAYS!

So... how's your attitude? Perhaps it needs an adjustment today. The good news is, through the Lord, nothing is impossible - even an attitude adjustment in the light of difficult times. Parents will always be wierd... nothing we can do to change that. but what we can do is change the way we react to them... and who knows... we just might find that they were teenagers once, too!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, help me to make sure that my attitude is glorifying to You. I don't want to cover the light that is within me, but I do want to shine as a star in the midst of a world that needs the light! Lord, please help me to be all that I can be for you, and to do everything without complaining or arguing. This I ask, in Jesus' name! Amen.