November 12

“My attitude of heart in the midst of trouble and hardship sings or complains far more loudly than my voice could sing or complain.  And someone will always hear.”  Eugenia Price, S.P.S., 10/23

This is why I’ve not been content to just pretend that everything is OK. As long as the attitude of my heart is not right, I’m driven to correct it.  My problem has been I’ve often gone about it in the wrong way.  I’ve tried to change other people’s behaviors so that my attitude would change.  I see now that does not work.  The attitude of their hearts must change, and I cannot do that for them.  I also know now that one’s attitude does not change with one simple command.  Our attitudes are the culmination of experience and beliefs, and beliefs are one of the hardest things to change.  In addition, experiences cannot be undone.  So, is there any hope?  For me, this explains God’s plan.  Our only hope is the exchanged life--the life of Christ that we receive when we acknowledge our hopelessness without Him.  That acknowledgment and our consent to cooperate is all we need to start the process of our changed hearts.  What’s more, God even gives us that ability.  It’s only the hardened heart that actively seeks to reject Christ that is without hope.  Our hope, which others will see, is what will bring others to Christ to be made new.

“Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.  All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”  2 Corinthians 5:17-19