A little boy strutting through the backyard, baseball cap in place, toting ball and bat, was overheard talking to himself. “I’m the greatest hitter in the world.” Then he tossed the ball into the air, swung at it and missed. “Strike one!” Undaunted he picked up the ball, threw it into the air and said to himself, “I’m the greatest baseball hitter ever,” and swung at the ball again. Again he missed. “Strike two!” He paused a moment to examine his bat and ball carefully. Then a third time he threw the ball into the air. “I’m the greatest hitter who ever lived,” he said. He swung the bat hard a third time. He cried out, “Wow! Strike three! What a pitcher! I’m the greatest pitcher in the world!”

I like the kid’s attitude. I predict that he will go far, no matter what he chooses to do in life. His spirit reminds me of something that I read about Thomas Edison:

In December 1914, the great Edison laboratories in West Orange, New Jersey, were almost entirely destroyed by fire. In one night, Edison lost two million dollars’ worth of equipment and the record of much of his life’s work. Edison’s son, Charles, ran frantically about trying to find his father. Finally he came upon him, standing near the fire, his face ruddy in the glow, his white hair blown by the winter winds. “My heart ached for him,” Charles Edison said. “He was no longer young, and everything was being destroyed. He spotted me. ‘Where’s your mother?’ he shouted. ‘Find her. Bring her here. She’ll never see anything like this again as long as she lives.’”

The next morning, walking about the charred embers of so many of his hopes and dreams, the sixty-seven-year-old Edison said, “There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew.”1

With an attitude like that, no wonder Edison’s name is still prominent eighty years later. I’m not about to recommend the Pollyanna philosophy championed by so many “positive attitude” gurus. But I am going to make the point that Paul the apostle was making here in Philippians 2. Our attitudes are important! In fact, they are more important than our actions, because they are the foundation upon which our actions are built.

David Jeremiah, Turning toward Joy (Colorado Springs, CO: David C Cook, 2013).

We have just released a new Bible Study based on the book of Philippians.

These lessons are available on Amazon, as well as a part of my Good Questions Have Groups Talking Subscription Service. Like Netflix for Bible Lessons, one low subscription gives you access to all our lessons–thousands of them. For a medium-sized church, lessons are as little as $10 per teacher per year.

Lessons Include:

To Live Is Christ, Lesson #1
Odd Beginnings
Philippians 1.1 – 5

To Live Is Christ, Lesson #2
The Worthy Life
Philippians 1.6 – 30

To Live Is Christ, Lesson #3
The One God Exalts
Philippians 2.1 – 18

To Live Is Christ, Lesson #4
What the Humble Seek
Philippians 2.19 – 30

To Live Is Christ, Lesson #5
The Passionate Pursuit
Philippians 3.1 – 11

To Live Is Christ, Lesson #6
Owned
Philippians 3.12

To Live Is Christ, Lesson #7
Never Satisfied
Philippians 3.13 – 16

To Live Is Christ, Lesson #8
Centering the Gospel
Philippians 3.17 – 21

To Live Is Christ, Lesson #9
Rejoice
Philippians 3.1; 4.4

To Live Is Christ, Lesson #10
No Worries
Philippians 4.6 – 7

To Live Is Christ, Lesson #11
Christ Is All / I Can Do All Things
Philippians 4.13

To Live Is Christ, Lesson #12
True Contentment
Philippians 4.11

Each lesson consists of 20 or so ready-to-use questions that get groups talking. Answers are provided in the form of quotes from respected authors such as John Piper, Max Lucado and Beth Moore.

These lessons will save you time as well as provide deep insights from some of the great writers and thinkers from today and generations past. I also include quotes from the same commentaries that your pastor uses in sermon preparation.

Ultimately, the goal is to create conversations that change lives.

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