Excellence in ministry is important; crucially important. Excellence in attitude may be the most important area to demonstrate this crucial value in.

for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:11b-13

Paul is talking here about his ability to deal with circumstances and situations in life.

And that is really what attitude is – our response to life situations.

Victor Frankl, a Viennese Jew, was interned by the Germans for more than three years. He was moved from one concentration camp to another, even spending several months at Auschwitz. Later he wrote these words:

“We who lived in concentration camps can remember those men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances….”

Victor Frankl

As Frankl points out rightly, we have the ability to choose our attitude- every single day. It has been said that life is 10% of what happens to us and 90% how we respond to it. And I think that is true.

Paul is saying in Ephesians that his attitude in all things is consistent, constant. No matter what circumstance he finds himself in, he has learned how to maintain a good attitude.

The Secret of Excellence in Attitude

The word “learned” in verse twelve means “to learn the secret, to be initiated”.

Some of you know our ministry Honest Deceiver Ministries that uses magic and illusion to share the gospel. And when someone wants to learn magic, they must be initiated – the secrets must be revealed to them. They must learn through practice and experience. Paul is saying that he has learned the secret of being content, of having a good attitude, through his life experiences. And then he tells us the secret:

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

The secret of excellence in attitude is remembering and relying on the strength of Christ in me.