Attitude Adjustment

Over the past few months, I have found myself in situations both personally and professionally that challenged my attitude…let’s just say, it wasn’t good. Things were changing for me outside of my control, and in my humanness, I thought only of myself and the way these changes affected me. Being on staff at the church, I was aware of the new series we were about to start, so a couple of months ago, I decided to prepare by reading through the book of Matthew.

In my quiet time one morning, I was reading Matthew 16, where Peter corrects Jesus and tells Him that he doesn’t think He has to die. Peter says to Jesus in verse 22 “This will never happen to You!” Then Jesus turns to Peter and says these words; they jumped right off the page at me:

“…You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, and not from God’s.” Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life.”

Matthew 16:23-25

Those words challenged everything that I was thinking and feeling. I was fighting for my rights, things I felt I deserved and was entitled to. But Jesus says if I truly want to follow Him, I need to lay all of that aside. I let go of those attitudes that morning and laid all of it at Jesus’ feet, and I have to say I have experienced tremendous freedom in doing so.

I anticipate that this next year in the book of Matthew will challenge all of us, individually and as a church. It’s going to rock the world that we know… and I’m looking forward to it! 

Blessings,
Marcie Delaney