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Focus on Lively Virtues Worthy of Cultivation:
The Power of Attitude  

sermon from the pulpit of 
Christ Presbyterian Church                    
a center of faith for abundant living
The Reverend Clyde E. Griffith, pastor

Have you heard the story about the cranky old grandpa and the Limburger cheese? The man was a grouch. He had the usual aches and pains, and a certain amount of impatience and intolerance. He was cranky just about all the time. One time, after the traditional Sunday dinner, after he stretched out on the sofa for his usual not-to-be-disturbed afternoon nap, after he just started snoring, his grandson got a clever idea. He took some Limburger cheese from the refrigerator, crumbled a bit up, and went over the sofa and carefully sprinkled the Limburger cheese on grandpa's mustache under his nose. Well, it didn't take long for the Limburger cheese to work its magic.

Grandpa awoke with a start, sniffed a bit, made a face, arose from the couch and announced, "Something stinks in here!"

He walked into the kitchen, sniffing all the way, "Something stinks in here!"

He walked into the living room, "Something stinks in here!"

He opened the door and walked onto the front porch, sniffed, and announced to the world, "The whole world stinks!"

The truth is, it was grandpa who stunk. The problem was right under his own nose.

Now, the fact is, probably 99 times out of 100, when we begin to feel like things stink, the problem is not with the world around us -- the problem is not with other people -- the problem is with ourselves: our attitude!

So much of our life is determined by our attitude, isn't it?

So much of what happens to us depends upon the attitude we have:
our attitudes toward each other,
our attitude toward life itself,
our attitude toward ourselves.

What the sages of the ages knew, and what we are proving to be true through scientific studies and visionary thinkers, is that our attitude actually does affect our life -- even our health -- even our death.

A very ancient saying collected in Proverbs 23:7 is "What a person thinks is what he really is."

You know the truth of this, don't you?
You know a sour-puss or two, don't you?
You know someone who is always griping about her [or his] situation -- someone who is always looking for something wrong, something to grouse about? Well, they usually find it, don't they?

You also know someone who is always positive and enthusiastic about things, don't you?

Someone who is always finding something good -- even in disaster or personal embarrassment. And they usually find it, don't they?

It is true: People who expect the worse, always find it.
And: People who expect the best, find it as well. The fact of the matter is that attitude is even more important than facts.

Victor Frankl tells his personal experience of standing under the glaring lights of the Gestapo court in a Nazi concentration camp. Soldiers striped him of every earthly possession. They took his clothes, his watch, even his wedding ring. He said, as he stood there naked, his entire body shaved, he was totally destitute -- except for one thing, he says. He realized at that moment, he still had the power to choose his own attitude. And that was something no one could ever take away from him..

Someone observed that our life is determined by 10% of what happens to you, and 90% of how you react to what happens to you. Recent research shows the truth of this. Your attitude is actually more important than facts, or circumstances, or what others say, or your past, or your education, or even your money. One writer observes: "Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you, as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you, as by the way your mind looks at what happens.

Circumstances and situations do color life, but you have been given the mind to chose what the color shall be."

Stories to illustrate this abound from people in this congregation. At the risk of embarrassing someone, or leaving out someone, I will tell you of someone who is not in this congregation.

This lady was standing on the corner waiting for the light to turn green so she could cross the street to do her shopping. When, all of a sudden a big truck passed by and just at the intersection it had a blow out. A huge chunk of the tire broke off and flew the air and hit this woman -- who was just standing there, knocking her to the ground. The accident broke her hip and left her confined to a room in a nursing home for the rest of her life. The outlook was bleak for anyone. After several days in the hospital, she was to sent a nursing home and told that this would be where she would spend the rest of her days. When she was visited, she was in a great deal of pain, but she managed a great smile and wondered aloud, "Well, I wonder what God has for me to do here."

She knew, as many of you know, nothing in this life can happen to you, but what with God's help you can come out on top.

Work by Norman Cousins, Hans Selye, John Schindler, Dale Singer, Thomas Allen, Bernie Siegal, and a host of others provide data to support the idea that there is tremendous power inherent in our emotions and our attitudes. There is a whole field of therapy, pioneered at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, that effectively and conclusively proves this basic principle: The way you feel does not so much affect the way you think, as that your thoughts, your attitude, governs the way you feel. Your mood is a result of the way you think. When you think right, you feel right.

Some 2,000 years ago, Paul could write to the Philippians: "This is the secret I have learned so that anywhere, at anytime, I am content.... I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me." Today, we have hard evidence that things like love, hope, faith, laughter, joy, confidence, and the will to live have therapeutic value. Laughter is good medicine, as the ancient saying goes. A joyful heart is excellent medicine.

What we are about as a Christian community -- what Christ Presbyterian Church is about, is excellent medicine.

As I have alluded to earlier, I am intrigued by the results of two recent studies. One at the University of Minnesota, tracking the health of several thousand people over a period of 30 years, or so, and another that correlated information from several individual studies of different populations of several thousand over the course of 40 years, or so. To me, two of the findings of this research show that:
People who go to church regularly live longer than those that don't, and
People who go to church regularly are healthier than those that don't.

When you look at all of the literature available today, and weigh all the evidence, two of the most powerful forces that affect people for either good or bad -- are fear and faith.

Indeed, most people acknowledge fear as a leading cause of ill health and coping difficulties. One researcher says that many people suffer from a malady he calls the "CDT's" -- cares, difficulties, and troubles. Many people are actually sick, or below par, he writes, because of an impenetrable blanket of gloom resting on their minds. In fact, most people agree that fear lies at the basis of many maladies, and may be the most powerful force affecting people's physical and mental health.

But, recent studies show that faith is even more powerful than fear -- and that faith can even overcome fear. 
Now, I'm not talking about philosophical concepts. I'm not talking about Christian Science. 
I'm not talking about superstition.
I am talking about hard facts. 
I am talking about personal experiences. 
I am talking about fundamental Christian truth.

Our Christian faith is more powerful than any fear. You know the truth of this. Many of you can tell stories about this. One person was especially fearful of a medical procedure she was to endure the next day. She shared her dread with me.

When I saw her after the procedure, she told me about the experience and described the dreaded machine in some detail. When I asked her how long she was inside the machine, her reply was "about 4 1/2". I thought "4 1/2"? 4 1/2 what? 4 1/2 minutes? 4 1/2 hours? That was some test! What could she mean, "4 1/2"? 
She said, "I repeated the 23rd Psalm about 4 1/2 times and it was over." 
That's how she overcame her fear of that particular procedure.

Carl Jung, the famous psychiatrist, considered faith to be very important to mental and physical well-being. He wrote:
Among my patients in the second half of life -- that is to say, over 35 -- there has not been one whose problem in the last resort was not that of finding a religious outlook on life. It is safe to say, he goes on, that every one of them fell ill because he had lost that which the living religions of every age have given to their followers, and none of them has been really healed who did not regain his religious outlook.

Our religious outlook -- the unique attitude we have when we face the world we live in, and deal with all of life's uncertainties.

A researcher with the National Institute of Mental Health did a study that concluded that "religion was highly beneficial -- beneficial in more than 80% of the cases found in psychiatric research." He writes,
"We discovered the exact opposite of what was commonly taught to psychiatrists and what still pervades the mental health culture.... Church attendance, prayer, and the social support available in church were frequently found to be significant positive factors in helping patients with mental or physical health problems.... 
Religious people who live out their faith are more likely to say they are enjoying life, that they like their work, their marriage, their family."

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this appears to be true. 
And the great thing is, that you can test it out for yourself. 
Paul wrote to his good friend, Timothy,
"For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, of love, and of sound mind."

I really believe, that most of us do not fully realize just what our faith can do for us. In his Sermon On the Mount, Jesus promised his disciples three things: they would be entirely fearless, they would be absurdly happy, and they would get into trouble. Well, they did get into trouble, and found, to their surprise, that they were not afraid.

They were absurdly happy, for they laughed over their own troubles and cried only over other peoples' troubles.

Jesus said, "I've said all these things that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."

In Nehemiah we read, "The joy of the Lord is your strength."

In Acts we read, "In him we live and move and have our being."

In Philippians we read, "Your attitude should be the kind that was shown us by Jesus Christ."

Now, here's the secret -- the secret that some of you know -- the secret that we need to get to others -- When you act according to this kind of attitude. 
When you live it.
When you speak it.
When you think it.
When you are it!
The joy of the Lord will indeed be your strength.

When you believe, as Jesus said, the joy of the Lord is in you, you have everything necessary to face whatever life deals you -- you will have the wisdom and the courage and the faith to face anything.

And you will be known for your enthusiasm. 

The Greek work entheos means "God in you" -- or "Full of God." And, friends, your attitude of enthusiasm will contain the power to work miracles in your life. If you don't believe me, Try it!

And all the people went off to eat and drink and give shares away and begin to enjoy themselves, since they understood the meaning of what had been proclaimed to them.

Amen.

How to Live Healthier and Longer:
Focus on Lively Virtues Worthy of Cultivation:
Find Out About The Power of Prayer
Find Out About The Power of Attitude
Find Out About The Power of Ritual
Find Out About The Power of Community
Find Out About The Power of Forgiveness
Find Out About The Power of Transcendence
Find Out About The Power of Laughter

References:

Research Study:
Prayer Helps Heart Patients