This year has been the most unplanned, inconvenient, and difficult one for many people, including myself. Some have lost jobs, become sick, been stuck at home with family members much longer than normal, and forced to enter into a season of waiting with no end in sight. A few weeks ago, I went to Maryland to visit my family and, coming back to New York, I had to stand in line to get a rapid Covid test with my wife, which took about two hours in the rain. Reflecting on that moment, there was little I could control. I couldn’t control the fact that the line was moving slow. I couldn’t control the fact that I needed to get tested. I couldn’t control the rain. However, the one thing I could control was my perspective. Over these past nine months, I have really come to learn that the people of God fight with ideas and attitudes.
I believe one of the greatest ways the Coronavirus has affected people around the world has been by changing the way they think and feel about others. Maybe you can relate. Has this season given you people to blame, complain, and gossip about? Has this season made you more short-tempered; always on the verge of losing your cool? Has this season allowed you to divide people into either good guys or bad guys? It may be easy to justify a poor thought-life so long as it doesn’t hurt anyone, but this is far from the heart of God.
Are we to be no different than the rest of the world in our grumbling, complaining, and thinking? I don’t believe so. In Matthew 22:37, Jesus explains the greatest command given to us is to Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. It’s interesting that Jesus points to our minds as one of the most important ways we can love and honor God. The reason we fight with ideas and attitudes is that it is impossible to truly love someone while we think poorly of them. In fact, the way we treat people is usually symptomatic of how we think about them. Therefore, if we think poorly of people and have a bitter attitude toward them, we will treat them unkindly, we will gossip about them, and we will dishonor them and justify ourselves while doing it. However, Jesus calls believers to a higher standard. Loving God with all of our minds doesn’t only mean having a right view about God, but also having a right view of the people created in His image. To have a mind in love with God is to have a mind that is aligned with God, and this is something that we have to work on. We live in a culture where slander, bitterness, and hostility are considered the norm, but those certainly are not reflective of the kingdom of God.
Maybe you are thinking that fighting with attitudes and ideas doesn’t seem to be all that powerful of a weapon, but remember that we serve what seems to be an upside-down kingdom. The kingdom of God operates by a different set of values. We fight with ideas and attitudes because thinking rightly about God, ourselves, and others will actually lead to a life on mission. When I think of Jesus’ life, for example, He was refreshing to be around. He had a high view of people and was always restoring honor and dignity to whoever He was around. He was able to do this because He knew who He was, so He was free to serve and knew the potential of people around Him even when they were far from God. I have heard it said once that Jesus didn’t die to redeem sinners, He came to redeem sons and daughters. Jesus never lost sight of the purpose for which we were created. Therefore I encourage you not to lose sight of the purpose in which you were created. Don’t settle into thinking less of people, less of God, and less of yourself. We really do fight with ideas and attitudes.
- JORDAN PARKER
Practical Challenges: HOW CAN YOU BETTER FIGHT WITH YOUR ATTITUDES & IDEAS
Listen to a sermon by Dan Mohler or Francis Chan and meditate on it.
Read the Book of Colossians slowly over the next week.
Next time you’re in a conversation where people are complaining, offer an encouraging alternative.
Ask God to give you a higher picture for someone who may annoy you or that you are tempted to write off.
Write out areas in their life that you can praise God for.