Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Are You a Winner or a Whiner?

They were the first two brothers who ever lived. They both had a vocation. Their vocations were profitable and successful. One brother pleased God and the other did not. Abel was obedient and Cain was willfully disobedient. Then Cain got angry. Abel was a winner, while Cain's countenance fell.

It was in the moment of his falling short that Cain had to make a choice. Would he accept his mistake and move forward in repentance and righteousness or would he allow Satan to take advantage of his disappointment? Unfortunately, the latter is true. Cain's attitude dictated his destiny. And so it is for us.

We have to decide if we are going to be a winner or a whiner. The winner concentrates on the good side of life, while the whiner majors in the mediocre. Winners think differently than whiners. Winners say regularly, "I can" and "I will." This approach is a part of their everyday, conscious state of being and thinking. When they make mistakes they own them. They get up, dust themselves off and change. Whiners fixate on what they should have done...would have done...what they can't do, or how they wish circumstances were always different. Whiners say things like, "I am so unlucky, that if it were raining soup I'd be standing outside with a fork!"

There is a conversation going on in our mind all of the time. The part of us that can choose to be positive must do so. A person with a goal, a dream, or a motivation that is coupled with the right spirit will get off the couch and out of the house and change the world. But a person who is always concerned about what might go wrong, failure, rejection, lack of ability, or any little imperfect situation will waste away and never produce anything of significance.

Would you rather be surrounded by positive or negative people? Negativity and Christianity cannot be in harmony with each other. Being forgiven by God and being so loved by God should equate to abundant joy in the lives of His children. If we are never happy with life, with our neighbor, with the church, with the preacher, with the weather, or with the world, there will be no reason for anyone to want to be like us. People can be miserable without any help. But if we want to be excellent, we will have to be with people who make us better and push us upward.

Look at the life of Jesus. He left the glory of heaven for the struggles of the earth. He was poor. He was hated and persecuted. His family misunderstood him. He was surrounded by sickness and disease and death. He was rejected by his own people. He was often weary and tired and short on rest. But He never whined. He had a higher calling and He would not let anything or anyone keep Him from fulfilling His purpose. He loved the unlovable, cured the incurable, and changed the unchangeable. He was a winner because He chose victory before the game even started.

Whether we are a winner or a whiner has nothing to do with the circumstances or challenges of life. They are both states of mind. And we get to make up our mind.

If you think you are beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you don't.
If you'd like to win but think you can't,
It's almost certain you won't.
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man,
But sooner or later, the man who wins
Is the man who thinks he can.
 
"Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it." - 1 Corinthians 9:24

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