Agendas Determine Attitudes

​We all know that emotions can get in the way of making Godly or even good decisions. How we interact in our relationships should reflect the relationship we have with Jesus, and this will be reflected by how much we allow the Holy Spirit to reveal him to us.
More often than not, whenever I have mentored someone in the past, not surprisingly the need to resolve personal attitudes towards forgiveness has taken priority. Not least the issue of not extending grace to others as God has extended grace to us. This appears to me to be a significant problem in the Church.
I have learned, that what makes it easy for wrong attitudes to control our behaviour is the part that agenda plays in the attitude we adopt when dealing with others. 
Agenda determines attitude.
The story of the woman caught in adultery throws some light on this by showing us the difference between two attitudes built on two different agendas.  
On one hand we have the attitude of the crowd, and on the other, the attitude of Jesus.
The crowd’s agenda was punishment for the woman. Jesus’ agenda, was for the woman to be forgiven and allow grace to change her heart. The crowd’s attitude, was harsh, seeking their own kind of judgement. Their attitude was closed, and it blinded them to their own sin and their own need for forgiveness. Jesus’ attitude was compassionate, loving, and open to finding a way to God by his grace. John 8:1-11.
It is so so easy to allow our agendas to dictate our responses, attitudes and approach to others because we are either angry, feel used or want to get even.
Jesus’ response was, ‘He that is without sin among you, let him be the first to cast the first stone’.
The woman was guilty, and was deserving of punishment, but if we nurture an agenda of love, forgiveness, reconciliation and a desire to see Jesus glorified in how we deal with others our attitudes and approach will follow suit.