How to Live the Good Life
November 24, 2014Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. Luke 6:31
1. Follow the Golden Rule. If you want to be radical, live your life after Luke 6:31. God has designed Christians to exert influence in the earth. The best thing you can do for this world is to walk in love, to treat others how you want to be treated. You don’t have to rely on the strength of your personality—this goes way past disposition and temperament. It’s God’s power working in you that makes it possible to live this radical kind of life.
The one who desires life, to love and see good days, must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. 1 Peter 3:10
2. Watch Your Words. If you want to be effective, you must bridle your tongue, which means to guard and control what you say (James 1:26, 3:2-12). There is a time to speak and a time to be silent. “There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing” (Proverbs 12:18). Tell your mountains to move, speak encouragement and edification into a world in desperate need of the love of God. Don’t speak in anger, and avoid all gossip.
One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect [mature], have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you. Philippians 3:13b-15
3. Change Your Attitude. Attitude is everything. God has called each of us to have a “certain attitude” of perseverance, of expectation—an attitude that crucifies selfishness. In any given situation, ask yourself: “What would Jesus want me to do?” As you submit your heart, God will reveal areas where you need an attitude adjustment. None of us has arrived, but we press on toward the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Pray this Prayer:
Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips (Psalm 141:3). Help me to keep my tongue from evil and to seek peace and pursue it (1 Peter 3:10-11). Since there is encouragement in Christ, consolation of love, fellowship of the Spirit, and affection and compassion, help me to be of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose (Philippians 2:1-2). In Jesus’ Name, amen.
at•ti•tude, noun
A complex mental state involving beliefs, feelings, values, and dispositions to act in certain ways.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Pastor Jeff
Copyright © 2014 St. Louis Family Church. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted or distributed in any form without prior written permission of St. Louis Family Church. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. “attitude (cognition).” Memidex Dictionary/Thesaurus. Web. 19 Nov 2014