Our attitudes often determine our ability to influence others. A harsh, critical, and unfriendly attitude is going to drive people away from you, and even if you are able to witness, your words, no matter how truthful, are much less likely to be received.

 In contrast, a positive attitude and a belief in others draws them to us. It creates a bond of friendship. Jesus stated this principle beautifully when He said, “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15, NKJV). Friends accept one another in spite of their weaknesses and mistakes and freely share their joys and sorrows.

 Read Matthew 15:21-28 and Mark 14:6-9. These texts describe two women of widely differing circumstances. Jesus appears to be harsh with one and gentle with the other. What indications do you have in these passages that Jesus was reaching out with His saving grace with each one and building trust?

 The woman in Matthew 15 is a Canaanite. Jesus intentionally refuses her request initially so that, as she persists, her faith will grow. He eventually grants her desire and then makes an amazing statement that no religious leader in Judea at that time would ever make to a poor Canaanite woman. He publicly says, “O woman, great is your faith!” (Matt. 15:28, NKJV). He gives her one of the greatest compliments any religious teacher could ever give. Can you imagine how her heart rejoiced and her life was changed?

 The woman who anoints Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume is a Jew — a woman of ill repute, a woman who has failed badly and sinned often, but one who was forgiven, transformed and made new again. When others criticize her, Jesus compliments her and approves of her actions. He declares, “Wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her” (Mark 14:9, NKJV).