Elisabeth Elliot: Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made Himself nothing. You think you've got troubles? Think about His.

Lisa Barry: Have you ever tried to think about somebody else's troubles when you had a load of your own? It's not very easy. When someone hurts us we want to talk about it, we want to be understood, we want people to take our side. And then someone comes along and tells you to think about what Christ had to endure by comparison!

Well, today on Gateway To Joy, Elisabeth Elliot takes a close look at our attitudes and offers a few examples of what a Christlike disposition looks and acts like. Whether you feel like you've just gotten yourself in the habit of complaining lately, or you need a simple realignment in your perspective, it's all coming up next. Let's join Elisabeth now, as she addresses a group in Houston, Texas. Here she is:

Elisabeth Elliot: My talk this morning, this second talk, is called "Choose Your Attitude." I didn't know which of the funny letters that we've had, Lars was going to tell about this morning, but I had brought up another one. This just came to me last week. It's very odd. I wouldn't say it's the funniest, but it's odd.

She says, "Hi. How are you doing? I am super." In New England, when you say, "How are you?" they say, "I'm good." I think, Why would they say that? Why wouldn't you say, 'I'm well'? But if you say, "I'm good," then I'm always reminded that the Bible says that there is none good but one (Psalm 53:3), so you can't possibly be good. But I don't argue that point.

But this woman says, "I am super. I am going home to Alliance, Nebraska, for Christmas. Please pray for me." This is the odd part: "I have not been reading the Word as I should. I don't pray anymore like I used to. I get along without God's help. I manage. Please pray for me." I read that over and over again. She says, "I'm super. I don't read the Word anymore. I don't pray like I used to. I get along without God's help. I manage. Please pray for me." I certainly know she needs prayer, but it doesn't sound to me as though she thinks she does, and yet, she wrote me that letter.

Is it possible to choose one's own attitude? Yes. Most emphatically, yes! Over my typewriter I have what has been called "St. Teresa's Bookmark." I don't know why it's called "St. Teresa's Bookmark," but it's a very well-known little poem that St. Teresa must have written. This is what it says: "Let nothing trouble you. Let nothing frighten you. All things pass away. God never changes." That calms me and helps me to keep a quiet heart quite often. "Let nothing trouble you. Let nothing frighten you. All things pass away. God never changes."

Maybe some of you know that there was a very famous incident that happened in St. Teresa of Avila's life. She was dumped out of a carriage into a ditch. As she lay in the ditch she looked up and she said to the Lord, "If this is the way You treat Your friends, no wonder You have so few." Well, if a saint like St. Teresa could say that, then I think you and I have permission to say something similar. It really wasn't the biggest trouble in her life, I'm sure, but when you're in the ditch it's the biggest thing, isn't it? When you've got a toothache, it's the worst toothache in the world; when it's gone, you forget about it.

Jesus' own words were, "Let not your heart be troubled" (John 14:1). That is a command. The verbs are very pointed and very powerful. "Let not," "Do not let your heart be troubled." He is not saying that there is no reason why your heart shouldn't feel troubled, but He is saying, "Don't let it be troubled." But then He gives us a very good reason why we shouldn't.

He says, "You believe in God; believe also in Me" (John 14:1). Remember that He said these words when He was about to say good-bye to His disciples and He was giving them a summary of all the teaching that the Gospels contain in those chapters (14, 15, 16). He was preparing His disciples for His departure knowing, of course, that they would be troubled, naturally speaking.

In these words I find a command to all of us that we are meant to choose our attitude. It doesn't make any difference what the circumstances may be--we can choose. "Be content" (Heb. 13:5), the Bible says; "Be anxious for nothing" (Phil. 4:6)--commands, all of them--"Love your neighbor" (Matt. 5:43); and also, "Love your enemies" (Matt. 5:44). Maybe your neighbor is your worst enemy.

I get a lot of letters from women who describe the horrors of their married life and they write me pages about what an awful man they have to put up with. They feel as though they have a right to be angry and they're asking me all these questions about "What am I supposed to do?" My answer to them is, "Treat your husband as an enemy."

What does the Bible say we're supposed to do with our enemies? Love them. That's what the Bible says. If this man is actually acting as badly as she describes, then he certainly is acting like an enemy. The command is perfectly clear, utterly unequivocal. "Love your enemies. Do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you" (Luke 6:27-28).

Many of you know about Fanny Crosby. She must have written over 8,000 hymns. Fanny Crosby was blinded at the age of six weeks by a doctor who made a mistake. He put something in her eyes that burned the corneas so that she was totally blind for the rest of her life. When she was only nine years old, this is what she wrote:

A nine-year-old girl made a resolve. "I am resolved that in this world contented I will be." She chose her attitude.

In Philippians 2:5-8 we read, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even the death on the cross." Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. You think you've got troubles? Think about His. Think about that little nine-year-old Fanny Crosby.

I had quoted that poem on one of my radio programs and I had a letter from a prisoner. I get many letters from prisoners, and I thank God that there are many in prisons who are Christians. I don't mean that I'm grateful that Christians do things that get them into prison, but I assume that many of these prisoners have become Christians since they got there. At any rate, even if he is a Christian and has been falsely accused and injustice has been done to him, for God's own purposes He has him in that prison. This man has written to me a number of times. Very rarely does any prisoner ever tell me what he is in there for, and I have no idea what this man's story was. But he wrote this after he heard the story of Fanny Crosby:

That's what it means to choose your attitude.

Now the world has given us a line of absolute rubbish that tells us we're supposed to feel good about ourselves. And we're supposed to feel good about things and we're supposed to work on our self-esteem and all this sort of thing. So it would be hypocritical to act happy if we're really miserable inside. You know, that really is baloney because we can choose our attitudes.

Jesus wasn't happy, in the purely human sense, as He went to the cross. He shrank from it, but He chose His attitude. "Your will, Lord. Your will, Father" (Matt. 26:42). He moved down that pathway of obedience, without any wavering whatsoever. He expects you and me to find our joy in Him and to choose a proper attitude.

Jesus said, when the disciples were very worried because He hadn't eaten anything when they had left Him at the well (they tried to persuade Him to eat something, his answer to that was), "My meat [or My food] is to do the will of Him that sent Me. I have food that you don't know anything about" (John 4:34,32). So He had a different attitude, because He had a different motivation for His life.

Lisa Barry: As you think about your own motivation and attitude, you might be thinking, Yeah, I need to make some changes, but where do I start? That's a fair question, and to be honest, it's where many people lose heart. That's why I'd like to challenge you to listen every day to this program. I can't think of another time slot that offers so much application in a short 15-minute window. This program has made a difference in so many lives.

And a part of its effectiveness is being able to hear the truth spoken in a clear and concise way. That's important to us just as it is to you. In order for us to stay on the cutting edge of people's spiritual lives, we also need to be on the cutting edge of technology and that takes faith. In order to accomplish the goals we believe God has set for us, we need to have a support team putting wind in our sails. You do that for us. Please write today and let us know we can count on you. Here's our address:

Gateway To Joy, Box 82500, Lincoln, NE 68501. Or, call toll free 1-800-759-4JOY. That's 1-800-759-4569. On the Internet you'll find us at gatewaytojoy.org. This program has been a production of Back to the Bible.

Tomorrow Elisabeth talks more about what it takes to really change an attitude, so don't miss the next edition of Gateway To Joy.