THE RIGHT ATTITUDE

Philippians 2v5-9, “Let this same attitude {and} purpose {and} [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [Let Him be your example in humility:] Who, although being essentially one with God {and} in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped {or} retained, But stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men {and} was born a human being. And after He had appeared in human form, He abased {and} humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross! Therefore [because He stooped so low] God has highly exalted Him and has freely bestowed on Him the name that is above every name,”

•The reason the bible talks of us having the attitude that was in Christ shows that we have a choice to make on what attitude we want to have
•We can choose to let the attitude of Christ influence us or not.
•Christ was influenced by a certain attitude or mind to go through suffering for us, He had a choice!
•You are what you are today and where you are because of your attitude
•Your attitude will determine your future also
•As a man thinks so is he. Prov 23:7, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. As one who reckons, he says to you, eat and drink, yet his heart is not with you [but is grudging the cost].”
•Your attitude towards some things or issues in life will determine your achieving or not achieving those things
•Your attitude towards God and the things of God will determine what you do about Him
•Your attitude towards the gospel will determine your approach towards the gospel
•Your attitude towards the church will determine your approach towards church
•Some people think being fully committed to the church and giving your resources to the ministry is being too much
•Your attitude towards other people will determine how you treat them
•Your attitude towards certain tribes, races, practices, etc will determine how you treat those people
•Your attitude may be influenced by your background, how other people treated you, how you were taught, your company or the people you associate with, etc
•Your attitude towards success and people who are successful will determine your approach towards them and your own success or failure
•There are some who think being successful is being proud or pompous,
•To progress in life or in other things, you might need to break or make a radical change to your attitude
•When growing up, at school, I did not have a right attitude towards girls, that made me not even have compassion for them. I used even to beat up girls or mistreat them without care.
•Today my attitude towards women is different; I now understand women are a special specie. They need to be treated with care, love and delicacy.
•You need to have a right and positive attitude if you are to progress and succeed in life, have a winning attitude.
•Do not always see yourself as a failure, have an attitude that says, “I can do it.” You may have failed but that does not make you a failure.


The Battle of the mind (attitude)

•Romans 12v1-2, it is important to renew your mind or get your attitude changed. “I APPEAL to you therefore, brethren, {and} beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service {and} spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, {even} the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].”
•When you got born again, your spirit being was made a new creature in Christ but you soul / mind and body were not instantly changed.
•Your attitude is your responsibility, God can not force change on you. The bible did not say, “Pray God to change your attitude or to renew your mind”, you make the initiative.
•If you do not do something about your mind and or attitude, nothing will be done.
•Your attitude and or the state of your mind will limit your growth.
•2Corithians 10v3-6, there is a warfare or battle of the mind or attitude; some attitudes have to be brought to down to subjection! “For though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh {and} using mere human weapons. For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow {and} destruction of strongholds, [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments {and} theories {and} reasonings and every proud {and} lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought {and} purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One), Being in readiness to punish every [insubordinate for his] disobedience, when your own submission {and} obedience [as a church] are fully secured {and} complete.”
•Luke 6v45, “The upright (honorable, intrinsically good) man out of the good treasure [stored] in his heart produces what is upright (honorable and intrinsically good), and the evil man out of the evil storehouse brings forth that which is depraved (wicked and intrinsically evil); for out of the abundance (overflow) of the heart his mouth speaks.”

The Importance of a right attitude

•Your attitude towards marriage, young people, old people, man, women, work, church, family, education, etc determines what you do and your success or failure in those areas.
•Some people think that working is a curse; they think that working is enriching other people, their attitude towards work is skewed and hence they are not productive.
•At work we work under lot of pressure. We sometimes work odd hours up to even 21-24 hours a day on rare occasion. When I tell people that, they seem to feel pity for me!
•But, I am not really to be pitied for that!. Of coarse there has to be a balance to the matter, I am not saying we have to work 24 hours every day. There is need to rest, etc
•What motivates me in life is to be resourceful, helpful and have a positive and constructive contribution.

Examples

•1Chronicles 12v1-2, 8 David’s might men did not start at the top. “THESE ARE the ones who came to David at Ziklag, while he yet concealed himself because of Saul son of Kish; they were among the mighty men, his helpers in war. They were bowmen and could use the right hand or the left to sling stones or shoot arrows from the bow; they were of Saul's kinsmen of Benjamin. Of the Gadites there went over to David to the stronghold in the wilderness men of might, men trained for war who could handle shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and who were swift as gazelles on the mountains:”
•Actually they started very low in life, 1 Samuel 22v1-2, “SO DAVID departed and escaped to the cave of Adullam: and when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him. And everyone in distress or in debt or discontented gathered to him, and he became a commander over them. And there were with him about 400 men.”
•They were distressed people, in debt and discontented. Your current state and facts about your life do not necessarily determine who you are or will be unless you accept that state.
•The army of David came from people who were not renowned and successful at the time. David had a right attitude towards them.
•He did not chase them away and look for very high profile people.
•He accepted them, trained them, and helped instill a right attitude in them and produced the might man of valour out of them.
•It is better to work with a weak person than to work with a person with a skewed or wrong attitude.
•David’s man also had a right attitude though they were not perfect. They:
i)started where they were, in distress but chose to serve David when still a fugitive
ii)Could use both hands, that can signify balance in life
iii)Had faces of lions, brave and right attitude
iv) Strength of a gazelle, they were disciplined
•It is important to start where you are, serve those that you have opportunity to serve, be balanced, have right attitude and be disciplined, that will have a bearing to your success
•We still need to talk about discipline, commitment, sacrifice, patience and dedication today.
•We are living at a time when most things are instant. We are no longer used to waiting. Most things are spontaneous.
•Food is available almost everywhere in town, there are takeaways to avoid cooking, there are electric kettles, microwaves, etc to warm up things, etc. There are pampers for kids to avoid nappies. If not careful, that same attitude may creep into our spirit and we miss or lose Christian or biblical virtues.
•People need to know that they need to work and sow in life.
•Joshua had a right spirit or attitude in him about Canaan, Numbers 14v6-9, “And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among the scouts who had searched the land, rent their clothes, And they said to all the company of Israelites, The land through which we passed as scouts is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord, neither fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their defense {and} the shadow [of protection] is removed from over them, but the Lord is with us. Fear them not.”
•Caleb had a right victorious attitude even at the age of 80. Numbers 13v30, “Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once and possess it; we are well able to conquer it”.
Joshua 14v6-14. He still maintained the right attitude up the end and trusted God for victory.
“Then the people of Judah came to Joshua in Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God concerning me and you in Kadesh-barnea. Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to scout out the land. And I brought him a report as it was in my heart. But my brethren who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses swore on that day, Surely the land on which your feet have walked shall be an inheritance to you and your children always, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God. And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, as He said, these forty-five years since the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while the Israelites wandered in the wilderness; and now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old Yet I am as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so is my strength now for war and to go out and to come in. So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke that day. For you heard then how the [giantlike] Anakim were there and that the cities were great and fortified; if the Lord will be with me, I shall drive them out just as the Lord said. Then Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Caleb son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. So Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel.”

Changing Your Attitude

•For Abraham, God asked him to live his relatives to another land
•For Israelites, it took time (40 years) for the Egyptian attitude to depart out of them
•Sometimes you might need to change your company to develop a right attitude.
•The people that you hang around with, are they helping you to develop a right attitude towards life?
•1Corinthinas 15v33, company you keep will affect your attitude and in the long run your destiny. “Do not be so deceived {and} misled! Evil companionships (communion, associations) corrupt {and} deprave good manners {and} morals {and} character”
•I am not saying do not associate with people but do not associate with people to the extent that they negatively influence your attitude.
•I have seen and listed to negative people, to them nothing is good, they are always complaining!
•I normally keep quite when in the presence of such!
•Proverbs 13v20, those that you keep company with will influence your thinking and attitude whether for bad or for good.
•Some people have a negative attitude towards success, prosperity, excellence and achievement. They believe that you need not be outstanding. Just be moderate and not go too far. Be like the rest.
•So, at times you need to drop your friends or people you associate with if you are to succeed.
•Abraham had to separate with Lot.
•Some believe that being mediocre is being humble and cool.
•I believe in success, prosperity, excellence and achieving in life whether spiritually or naturally.
•I believe in doing things with the best of my ability, I do not like being associated with failure and things that are not orderly.
•In your finances, work, education, etc have the right attitude.
•Many people who are poor or who lack in life are so because of their attitude.
•Many people who do not have much have a wrong attitude towards those who are successful, they say they are proud, “bayazenzisa”. That attitude will keep you poor.
•If somebody is successful, do not hate them, ask how they are doing it. Do not be covetous; you have the chance of you succeeding just like them.
•Have the right attitude towards money, do not worship riches but riches are good if you have a right attitudes towards them.
•Have the right attitude towards giving to the church, if you think giving to the church is making pastors rich, you will not give and you will remain poor.
•Mal 1:11-14, “ For from the rising of the sun to its setting My name shall be great among the nations, and in every place incense shall be offered to My name, and indeed a pure offering; for My name shall be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. But you [priests] profane it when [by your actions] you say, The table of the Lord is polluted, and the fruit of it, its food, is contemptible {and} may be despised. You say also, Behold, what a drudgery {and} weariness this is! And you have sniffed at it, says the Lord of hosts. And you have brought that which was taken by violence, or the lame or the sick; this you bring as an offering! Shall I accept this from your hand? says the Lord. But cursed is the [cheating] deceiver who has a male in his flock and vows to offer it, yet sacrifices to the [sovereign] Lord a blemished {or} diseased thing! For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and My name is terrible {and} to be [reverently] feared among the nations.”
•Normally, the natural disabilities and impairments cannot be able to deter you from being successful than wrong attitude. There a lot of people with disabilities that are achieving great things that able bodied people.

Conclusion

•Ecclesiastes 9v10 talks of doing everything with excellence, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol (the place of the dead), where you are going”
•In the creating, God did everything good, so, whatever you do, do it good!
•Jesus said being faithful in little things opens room for promotion or greater things, Luke 16v10-12, “He who is faithful in a very little [thing] is faithful also in much, and he who is dishonest {and} unjust in a very little [thing] is dishonest {and} unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the [case of] unrighteous mammon (deceitful riches, money, possessions), who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not proved faithful in that which belongs to another [whether God or man], who will give you that which is your own [that is, the true riches]?”