Be made new in the attitude of your minds.
—Ephesians 4:23
Everybody knows that an exemplary Christian must be pure in speech and conduct. Dirt under the fingernails in word or walk is fatal to Christian influence.
Spoiler alert! Some who are spotless in word and walk are rendered ineffective by a cranky attitude. Christian influence is DOA at the scene of a cantankerous disposition.
An obnoxious attitude is toxic. It exterminates its possessor’s happiness, mutates into a mental garbage dump, contaminates relationships, and annihilates influence.
“Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Col 3:12). “[Be] “without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” (Phil 2:14, 15).
You are the master of your influence
only if you are the master of your attitude.