Traps are set all throughout your teen & adult life. These traps look attractive and sweet, but underneath there is a lot of pain and hurt. The first trap is the trap of a BAD ATTITUDE.
What is attitude? An attitude is your spirit. It is the spiritual state of your heart and mind. It is the part of you that generates your outlook on life and impacts your behavior and responses. Simply put, your attitude is the by-product of your heart! The real you! It is how you view and respond to events that happen in your life.
A Biblical example of a bad attitude is the life of Jonah (Jonah 1-4). He got angry at God when revival broke out in Nineveh. His bad attitude corrupted every other area of his life and resulted in a bad life.
A Biblical example of a good (right) attitude is the life of Joseph (Genesis 39:21-23). He was betrayed by his brothers, sold in to slavery, and framed by Potiphar’s wife and he responded with joy and God used him greatly in Pharaoh’s kingdom during the 7 years of famine!
Here are 6 Statements about your attitude you need to know:
1. Everyone struggles with the control of their attitude. You are not alone! – This is not just a teen thing. Take comfort in the fact that adults struggle with their attitude. But get victory now! If you allow a bad attitude to control you it will mess up your life on multiple levels. Everyone will face something (simple or complex) this week where your attitude will be challenged.
2. If Satan can get your attitude, He can get the rest of your life. –Everything flows from your attitude. If he can get your mind twisted (cynical, sarcastic, defiant, rebellious, bitter, scorn, etc) you will behave in a way that is unchristlike. A bad attitude brings bad decisions brings bad consequences brings a bad life.
3. You don’t have the power to choose the many events of your life, but you do have the power to choose your attitude. – You don’t have control over the amount of homework you receive, your parent’s marital decisions, your health, your car problems, your work schedule, economical & political things, or the weather! But you do have the ability to choose how you will respond (your attitude) to those things. Life is 10% of what happens to you, 90% is your attitude.
4. A Bad attitude shows itself in several unchristlike ways. – When you choose to have a stinky attitude many unchristlike responses begin to manifest themselves in your life.
5. The Holy Spirit never generates or permits a bad attitude. Never! – Sad to say, but many Christians sum their life up on some simple phrase, “Life Stinks!” Your bad attitude is not from God, but YOU! You are living in the flesh, you are not spirit filled (Gal. 5:22-23).
6. Nothing has a greater impact on the outcomes of your life than the attitudes you choose. – Regardless of your education, talents, music ability, popularity, or athletic skills people want to be around someone who has a great attitude about life. Not a grumpy, grouchy, and irritable person. You tend to avoid people with bad attitudes (unless you are one of them!). Your attitude has a great impact on your life!
Will you make the decision, with God’s help, to have a good attitude from this day forward?
Credit: Much of this outline is adapted from Cary Schmidt, student pastor at Lancaster Baptist Church. He has made his sermon material available for this study on Teen Traps.
The Take Action Bible published by Thomas Nelson is printed in the New King James Version (NKJV) and has a creative approach to connecting the truth of the Scriptures to real-life application. Through this basic 2-column reading Bible there are 5 short stories of Christians living out Bible principles (i.e. serving, giving, going, etc) that the reader can stop and read along the way. In addition, after each short story there is a page where the reader is directed to read a particular passage that supports the theme and is then challenged with a question of application.