A Good Sheep

From --a Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23-------7 fresh attitudes need to be aquired:

1. "Instead of loving myself most I am willing to love Christ best and others more than myself".--deliberate act of my will--lay down my life---self-lessness or self-sacrifice in contradistinction to selfishness. "Most of us know little of living like this or being 'led' in this right way."

2. "Instead of being one of the crowd I am willing to be singled out, set apart from the gang."

3. "Instead of insisting on my rights I am willing to forego them in favor of others.....Even in the loving atmosphere of the home, self-assertion is pretty evident and the powerful exercise of individual rights is always apparent.....the person who is willing to pocket his pride....There is a tremendous emancipation from 'self' in this attitude. One is set free from the shackles of personal pride. It's pretty hard to hurt such a person. He who has no sense of self-importance cannot be offended or deflated. Somehow such people enjoy a wholesome outlook of carefree abandon that makes their Christian lives contagious with contentment and gaiety."

4. "Instead of being 'boss' I am willing to be at the bottom of the heap......When the desire for self-assertion self-aggrandizement, self-pleasing gives way to the desire for simply pleasing God and others, much of the fret and strain is drained away from daily living....The person who is prepared to put his personal life and personal affairs in the Master's hands for His management and direction has found the place of rest in fresh fields each day. These are the ones who find time and energy to please others."

5. Instead of finding fault with life and always asking 'Why?' I am willing to accept every circumstance of life in an attitude of gratitude.....Human beings, being what they are, somehow feel entitled to question the reasons for everything that happens to them....We are often quick to forget our blessings, slow to forget our misfortunes.....But if one really believes his affairs are in God's hands, every event, no matter whether joyous or tragic, will be taken as part of God's plan. To know beyond doubt that He does all for our welfare it to be led into a wide area of peace and quietness and strength for every situation."

6. "Instead of exercising and asserting my will, I learn to cooperate with His wishes and comply with His will....When a man or woman allows his will to be crossed out, canceling the great I in their decisions, then indeed the Cross has been applied to that life.

7. "instead of choosing my own way I am willing to choose to follow in Christ's way: simply to do what He asks me to do......do, ....go....say....re-act....in the manner He maintains is in my own best interest as well as for His reputation (if I'm His follower....Precious few have either the will, intention or determination to act on it and comply with His instructions....God wants us all to move on with Him. He wants us to walk with Him."

These were all under the chapter--"He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name"s sake"