eNews – Oops! Your Attitude is Showing

by Janae Lovern, Director, International Field, Director of Conference Operations

In 1979, the September/October issue (#42) of Aglow Magazine featured a small section on page 11 that announced, “Aglow is growing! The following groups were affiliated in June-July 1979.” It is quite amazing to see how far and wide the Lord moved in Aglow in the 12 years after Aglow started in 1967! Below is the list featured at the bottom of an article called “Aglow Around the World.” The article was written by (at the time) International Women’s Aglow Fellowship President, Margaret M. Moody, and she titled the article, “Oops! Your Attitude is Showing.” The article takes a look at the heart and speaks into relinquishing those things or situations that may be a struggle for a person to the Lord so that He can change us or change the situation we are facing.

Oops! Your Attitude is Showing

By Margaret M. Moody
International WAF President
Aglow Magazine September/October 1979 Issue

Have you ever wondered why some people have difficulty looking you straight in the eye? It could be shyness. Or, it could be a wrong attitude.

Wrong actions are overt, easy to spot, while wrong attitudes are covert and much less apparent. Wrong attitudes are often difficult to see in ourselves.

Attitudes are formed by our thought life, our environment, what we are taught, and our own desires (selfish and unselfish). They are usually a combination of our thoughts and emotions. They involve the heart. In 2 Chronicles 25:2, Amaziah, the King, did “that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart.” Apparently, he was withholding something – possibly resentment.

Scripture teaches that the heart is the center of a man’s inner, personal life. Solomon, known for his wisdom, mentions in the book of Proverbs that out of the heart comes wisdom, trust (or confidence), diligence, understanding, cheerfulness, knowledge, joy, pride, discipline, and management of one’s own personal life. He also says that perverseness, wicked imagination, lust, subtlety, deceit, folly, heaviness, bitterness, sorrow, backsliding, haughtiness, fretfulness, and envy proceed from the heart.

Jesus emphasized the importance of having a right attitude when He called those who are pure in heart blessed or happy. He said that sin is first committed in the heart. He also said that out of the heart come evil thoughts and from these our acts proceed, that forgiveness must first start in the heart, and that men should love God with all their heart.

When we become Christians, God wants to renew our attitudes and change our thinking. He has told us in Philippians 2:5 that we have the mind of Christ. Like the caterpillar being changed into a butterfly, we are being transformed into Christ’s image by the renewing of our mind (Rom. 12:2).

Of course, Satan would seek to deceive and accuse us, but we know that greater is He that is in us than he that is the world. When a person is struggling with a bad attitude towards another, often anxiety acts as a lie detector to show us that something is not quite right in our attitude.

If we are to win the battle against wrong attitudes and motives, we must recognize our sin and confess it. We must be precise. If we have been stubborn, we must say, “I have been stubborn.” If rebellious, “I have rebellion in my heart.” If we constantly excuse ourselves by saying “I don’t have enough time,” maybe we ought to be saying, “I am lazy.” When we don’t love as Jesus asks us to love, we hate. We must not gloss over a lie. If we have gossiped, acknowledge it and ask for forgiveness.

A proper relationship with God is reflected in the relationships we have with one another. If we have a bad attitude toward a person, it is necessary to ask for that person’s forgiveness as well as God’s.

After recognizing our sin – our wrong attitude – we must repent. We must see the ugliness and evil of sin, ask the Father to forgive us, and realize that it is against God we have sinned (Ps. 51:4). Next, we must turn away from this sin and pray to the Lord to help us cast it aside, asking that it no longer be a part of us. Then we must accept God’s full cleansing and forgiveness. His blood cleanses us from all sin. Our confessed sins are removed as far as the East is from the West.

We may be struggling in a very difficult position, but if we relinquish that thing or situation to the Lord, we free God to change us or to change the situation.

A good prayer is: I choose to see Jesus in my sister, husband, parents, children, and friends. Let me listen and respond as I would to you, Lord. By an act of will, reject thoughts that are not from God (2 Cor. 10:5). Make a good, positive confession. In Revelation 12:11, we read, “And they overcame by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.”

Scripture tells us, “Finally, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is an excellence and if anything, worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things” (Phil. 4:8 NAS).

David said in Psalm 139: 23,24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Ask God to search your heart to see if your motives and attitudes are in need of a touch of His resurrection life.”

The Aglow groups affiliated between June and July 1979 are:

USA
Arkadelphia, AR
Jacksonville, AR
Westwood, CA
Fort Collins, CO
Apopka, FL
Orange Park, Evening, FL
Central Orlando, FL
Columbus, GA
Orofino, ID
Huntington, IN
Iowa Area Board
Western Kansas Area Board
Lawrence, KS
Louisville, KY
Houma, LA
Grand Rapids, MI
Osconda, MI
Excelsior Springs, MO
Tupelo, MS
Las Vegas, Night, NV
SW New England Area Board
Clovis, NM
Roswell, NM
Herkimer, NY
Durham, NC
Greensboro, NC
Monroe, NC
Oxford, OH
Meadville, PA
El Paso Evening, TX
Spanish-Speaking Women of El Paso, TX
Jasper, TX
San Angelo, TX
Utah Area Board
Moundsville, WV
Wheeling, WV

CANADA
North Shore Luncheon of Vancouver, B.C.
Manitoba Area Board

GERMANY
Braunschweig
Hanover