Mastering Attitudes – Making Peace

If you were to construct a definition of happiness, what would you include? Would your definition include only what you’ve experienced or what you would like to experience? It's difficult to admit the role we play in creating our own unhappiness, so we blame others for our despair. What about believing we bear no responsibility for someone else’s happiness?

What contributes to an overall sense of happiness is being able to have mastery over the good and bad events we experience. Mastery does not rule out what is unpredictable or uncontrollable but does embrace managing one's life so that the effects of unhappy events can be limited.

Happiness derives from learning how to sidestep negative situations. At this level of awareness and insight, we realize attitudes and behaviors can be changed. With anger and blaming diminished, making peace can become a reality. "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons and daughters of God." What a wonderful blessing Jesus has secured for you. 

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Happy are those who work for peace; God will call them his children!

~Matthew 5:9 Good News Bible

So then we eagerly go after the things which mean peace and by which we help one another grow. 
~Romans 14:19 Beck – New  Testament in the Language of Today

Turn away from evil and do good; strive for peace with all your heart.
~Psalm 34:14 Good News Bible

Deliverance from Trouble

Trouble has the capacity to upset our emotional and physical equilibrium. Tolerating suffering that originates from trouble is not an easy task. The Greek philosopher Seneca confirmed that "our troubles may originate from behaviors that invite trouble." This implies that our attitudes and behaviors can open the door to trouble.

God's purpose for Jacob was to transform him into a person epitomizing God’s transformation. Continuous trouble persuaded Jacob to return to Bethel, where God first spoke to him in a dream twenty years earlier. God renewed his covenant to bless Jacob as he was being transformed into the man God intended. The Apostle Paul teaches that "we are daily being transformed into the likeness of Christ Jesus.”

Transformation doesn’t shield us from trouble. Psalm 34:19 certifies that "a righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all." God will give us strength to change old attitudes that are an invitation to trouble. Thank God for his goodness and mercy. 
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Nothing between us and God,...our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him. 
~2 CORINTHIANS 3:18 The Message Study Bible
      Sidebar: ...if we're exposed to Christ, our lives are changed. The change is a result of our relationship with him. By opening ourselves to him, we come under his influence and are changed into his likeness,...from one level of maturity to another...
Eugene H. Peterson, The Message Study Bible, page 1803