Our attitudes can make all the difference in how we make the decisions to change our lives. If you go into an exercise routine with a negative attitude, you will start to see it as punishment instead of fun.
Do you think getting into shape is about sacrifice? Are we to sacrifice and punish ourselves in order to be fit? I don’t think so. Is it a sacrifice to take time to shower or to make yourself a meal? Is it a sacrifice to take time to read your Bible each day? I hope not. If you see taking time out of your day to exercise and as a sacrifice on your part, then you will eventually begin to resent it and stop. This is why diets fail because we deprive ourselves and restrict ourselves so greatly, that we soon grow to resent it.
When we make changes to our lives, they need to be changes we can live with forever. We need to make changes that will enable us to be joyful always and to have a good attitude and enjoy what we are doing. God’s will for us is to prosper us and not to harm us, to give us hope and a future. How can you have prosperity and hope when you are in constant resentment and have a negative attitude.
As Christians, mentors, parents, church leaders, we need to demonstrate who we really are to ourselves and others and that begins with our attitude. If you are waking down the hall at church, sulking with a unfriendly face, are you demonstrating who you really are? If scarf down donuts and then wash it down with some soda in front of your family, are you demonstrating who you really are? When your husband asks if you are going to exercise and you moan and groan and complain about it, are you demonstrating who you really are? If you have Jesus in your heart, then no you are not. We need to demonstrate who we really are in everything we say and do in our lives and that begins with a good attitude.
Do I want to show the world that I give in when it gets tough, or that I am someone who is willing to push past where I was yesterday and do even more today? Am I someone who quits before failure?
When you think about exercise, do you think about how you want to do something easy, something to just get it done, or do you want to challenge and achieve something you have never achieved before? Soemthing you worked hard for and can be proud of?
Why do we run away from challenge? Because we fear we will be in worse shape if we fail. Failure is giving up before you even start. Letting your past rule your future. This is where walking in faith comes in. We have to walk in faith, not walk in our past, not walk by what we or the world sees or says, but we must walk in the faith that Jesus Christ gives us the ability, power and might to achieve anything if we trust Him and honor Him in anything we do.
