Fresh Start With GodSample

The Christian life is a journey, a process of becoming more and more like God. It's a marathon, not a sprint, and it's not necessarily how you start that counts, but how you finish. You need to make a commitment that you are not going to give up, no matter what. Decide now to keep pressing forward into all that God has for you and determine that you will finish strong. The truth is, there will be distractions and temptations along the way. You will make mistakes, even stumble and fall, but always remember that God is on your side, leading and strengthening you. He will always be right there helping you back up when you fall and encouraging you to keep going.

When it comes to not giving up, I really believe our attitude, more than anything else, will determine our success. When we really commit to renewing our mind we will be confronted with different attitudes that have the potential to keep us from growing spiritually. We may not even be aware of these attitudes or mindsets until they pop up. Some of them we picked up from our family, and others came through experience. Every time we bump up against one of these attitudes or mindsets, it's an opportunity to allow God to change us. In fact, as you confront these attitudes and overcome them, it will be the greatest example to your friends and family because they will see the real change that Jesus has made in your life.

Fear - Fear might be the most significant attitude we will have to confront in our life because it's so prevalent in our culture. You have to remember, we do have an enemy, Satan, and one of his greatest tools against us is fear. Why? Because fear is the opposite of faith, and faith is the most powerful thing we have at our disposal.

Faith does not only enable us to believe that God exists, but it also enables us to trust God in our daily lives. Often we will have to press against fear and take the steps God is leading us to take. Faith isn't the absence of fear, but it is doing the right thing even if we're afraid. Fear shows itself in our lives as worry, anxiety and even frustration. We don't have to live in fear. We can trust God for anything and everything in our life.

Spiritual Arrogance - We can't let pride and arrogance take root in our hearts when we start learning the Bible and God begins blessing our lives. Just as pride is one of the most sinister attitudes we have to guard against, humility is one of the most powerful spiritual attitudes we can build in our lives. It is our responsibility to humble ourselves. Humility is something we put on, like our clothes. When we put on humility, God gives us grace, which is His powerful, enabling and empowering presence in our lives.

Blame - Don't fall into the trap of blaming people or circumstances. Blame is so closely connected to our human nature. In the Garden of Eden, right at the moment when sin entered the world through the disobedience of Adam and Eve, blame was present. Adam blamed Eve and God, and Eve blamed the devil. Too many people are playing the blame game. A great way to get some momentum in your life is to stop making excuses and begin taking responsibility for where you are right now in life. If you fall, don't blame anyone or anything else. Take responsibility, and get back up.

Negativity - It's a simple fact that your attitude creates the environment of your life. If you think negative thoughts all the time, you will end up saying negative things. Negativity will surround you. I think you'll be amazed at the benefits being positive can bring to your life. When you have a positive outlook, you'll experience a new level of freedom and joy. You'll look forward to the future because of all the possibility it holds, instead of dreading it because of all the bad things that might happen. You'll enjoy life and your relationships because you're not expecting the worst all the time. You'll dream bigger because you believe that great things can happen in your life! Most importantly, when you're committed to having a positive attitude no matter what, you are a source of hope and life to those around you.

Complacency - The Bible says that we should always be fired up and passionate for God. In fact, one of my favorite verses in the Bible pretty much leaves us without excuse when it comes to the passion quotient in our life: "Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord" (Romans 12:11). That doesn't give us much of a way out. We should always be full of zeal and spiritual fervor. The word fervor literally means, "full of fire and passionate."

Complacency is simply a lack of passion. It's a "whatever" attitude. It's pretty clear in this verse that complacency is not only foolish, but it is destructive. I believe complacency destroys potential. So many people are gifted and have a great deal of potential, but because they don't care, they won't develop that potential and become all that God wants them to become. Complacency also destroys and shrinks our capacity to experience God in new and fresh ways.

Keep these five attitudes in mind, and remember to keep moving forward, fighting life through to the very end. No matter where you are, I believe you have only just begun to see the incredible things God has in store for you. We don't have to struggle and barely survive, because God has called us to thrive in life. The best is yet to come. Life can get better and better, and we can get stronger and stronger because God is leading us and we're committed to become all that He wants us to become!

Reflection Questions

1. Are there distractions and/or temptations you need to remove from your life to help make sure you're running your race well and are able to finish strong?

2. What changes do you need to make in your heart and attitude?

3. Do you have godly people in your life who can encourage you when you feel discouraged or tempted to quit? Are you humble enough to ask for help?