Video Transcript: Don't Take Yourself Too Seriously

So how to get a great attitude how to cultivate it positive, uplifting, encouraging a Christian attitude. Well, let's kind of go deep in the subject that we've talked  about, a phrase we've said in the phrase is, don't take yourself too seriously. Be  strong in grace. II Timothy 2:1, you then my son be strong in the grace that is in  Christ Jesus. So Timothy is a young leader, Paul, the mentor. And you'll see in I  and II Timothy, he's given many instructions about leadership. And here's one of  those instructions that we often overlook, be strong in the grace. So we say,  Don't take yourself too seriously. It's kind of an English way of saying, Look,  you're not going to be perfect. Don't go for perfectionism. We say, Don't take  yourself too serious when you fail, learn, get over and move on. Don't take  yourself too serious. Yes, you could be a person who forgives others. And don't  take yourself too serious. That when failure comes your way, it's only an event,  you are not a failure. So what's the biblical way to say it and the Biblical way to  say it is you then my son, my daughter, be strong in the grace that is in Christ  Jesus. So how do you do that? Well, first of all, love God and love self.  Deuteronomy 6:5, and Jesus, repeat this, Love the Lord your God with all your  heart, and all your soul, and all your mind with all your strength. And a second  commandment, Jesus says, is to love your neighbor, as yourself. So to love  God, to love God, just him. And to love yourself, as Jesus says, to love your  neighbor, to love your neighbor as yourself. Now, what's why is that the  summary of law? Well, it's because if that is your hearts, you take that seriously  to love God, and to love your neighbor. God has you here for a purpose, and he  loves you. You are loved. Love him back. We love because he first loved us, as I John talks about. We love our neighbor as we love ourselves. So another words, a positive attitude, is the person who's positive about loving God and loving  themselves. Now, I'm not saying love yourself in a way that is selfish. I'm saying  you are a creation of God. So what does that mean? Well, as a creation of God,  you are valuable, and it's worth it. As you love yourself grow in confidence. II  Corinthians 3:3-4, you show that you're a letter from Christ, the result of our  ministry written not with ink, but with the spirit of living God, not with tablets of  stone, but with tablets of human hearts of confidence, as this is ours, through  Christ before God, not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for  ourselves, or our competence comes from God. A person who loves themselves appropriately in biblically knows that if they look truly closely at themselves, they need Jesus Christ, they need to be redeemed, to love the redeemed part of  yourself. The God created part of yourself, not to love the sinful part of yourself.  We hear Paul says that our members war with one another, but to love that  which God has put us on the earth for our purpose. So in that sense, to love  ourselves is to grow in confidence as ministers let's look at that passage again.  A letter of Christ. Tablets of human hearts spirit of Living God, there's confidence in that. The fact is, is people with a great attitude have confidence. In You see,  that in sports a lot when someone is confident in their playing of a game, it 

shows. But that confidence is still very fleeting because they can play another  game. And the confidence is gone, we just know that there's confidence out  there and confident people get along just great. Well, if our confidence is ever  growing and ever growing in Christ Jesus, and our confidence that we are not  our own, but we belong to our Savior, Jesus Christ, what starts happening is that we are comfortable in growing in competence. So we have confidence and  growing competence. Romans 15:14, I myself am convinced my brothers that  you yourselves are full of goodness, complete knowledge and competent to  instruct one another. What I love is to see Christian leaders growing in  confidence, and competence. You're taking this mini course. And there's other  mini courses. And then there's if you want to take even college level classes  more for credit or for audit, it is great, because you are confident and you are  competent, and you're growing in your competence to instruct one another. You  know, there's a difference between the being the answer man know it all and the person who actually know something and share something to lift others up.  There is a huge difference in what's being said, no,a know it all just have their  opinions and their observations and just tell you what they think. A confident,  competent person studies the questions, ask the questions. Feels like they don't have to be right. But they know, based upon their studies in their humble walk,  that, you know, I don't have to be insecure about what I know. And I don't have  to be right about everything. That is a competent and confident person. Growing  credibility. II Corinthians 10:18. For it is not the one who commends himself  who's approved but the one who the Lord commends. One of the things I really  enjoy about the New Testament is how there was a system of gaining  confidence training, gaining competence through mentorship and training, but  also they commended leaders like Phoebe, I commend to you Phoebe. She's a  person who is a leader at the church of Cenchrea. I like how that works. You  know, that's what accreditation is about, you know, like people want to know if  the Christian leaders college credible. So we go through a process of others  look at us and say, hey, you know, we've analyzed what they're doing is credible. And that's for you, too. Why do you go and take if your going into accounting  and take an accounting exam, if you're going to be a minister, you want a  process by which, you know, you know, I've studied this, this and this, I'm  competent, and now credible, to share ministry with others, that makes for a  great attitude. You know, a lot of people live their life thinking that, you know,  what they know is what they know and everybody should know what they know.  But deep down, they're always fighting for the stage. But if you're a person who  is growing, learning, getting confidence, finding mentors, surrounding yourself  with people that are positive and learners with you encouragers who love the  Lord who want to share with others the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and  you grow like that. That is powerful. And it comes back to that original point, then you don't take yourself too seriously. You don't get obsessed with winning, you 

know, get obsessed with being right. obsessed with being the Answer Man,  obsessed with you know, Making sure that others, you know, don't succeed. You sort of look at yourself in that, uh. You know what? Strong, strong in the grace  that is in Jesus Christ. So here's my encouragement in this course at the end, is  to look at lives where you have a parts of your life where you have taken  yourself very seriously in where it's gotten in the way of that positive, growing,  uplifting, Christian attitude. Maybe ask your spouse if you're married, or ask a  friend, what do I take too seriously? Help me process this. What we are to take  serious is the grace of God. Take serious the truth of Scripture, but not so  serious. The fact that we are not so perfect, that are not so serious that we have  to be perfect. Don't take that so seriously. Grow in the grace that is in Jesus  Christ.