Keeping A Christ Like Attitude Series

What It Really Means to Have the Christ like Attitude?

There is nothing as powerful as attitude and it dictates our response to the present and determines the quality of our future. Stephen Covey, Tony Robbins and many other motivational speakers attest to the fact that attitude plays a significant role in someone’s success. The beginning of leadership, servant hood and success is defined in our attitude. A positive attitude is a manner of acting, speaking or thinking that shows one’s character to be fully assured and absolutely confident in God. If you have faith in God, then you can have a positive attitude.

Attitude creates our world and designs our destiny. It determines our success or failure in any venture in life. More opportunities have been lost, withheld, and forfeited because of attitude than from any other cause. Attitude is a more powerful distinction in life than fitness, beauty, power, title, or social status. It is more important than wealth and it can keep one poor. It is the servant that can open the doors of life or close the gates of possibility. It can make beauty ugly and homeliness attractive. The power in positive attitude for the believer is rooted in what we think about God and His word. Bible gives us a clear direction in how we can think positively: “ Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise”.(Philippians 4:8) If you are continually thinking about the goodness of God, you won’t have any time to dwell on negative thoughts that may get you down and discouraged.

Negative attitude is our biggest obstacle to maintain friendships, jobs, marriage& relationships. Because Negative people will blame the whole world, their parents, teachers, spouse, the economy and the government for their failures. Even in paradise fault finders will find faults. Most people find what they are looking for. If you’re looking for Blessings, holiness, happiness, & Peace, that is what you get. Stay away from negative influences, people, behavior& environments start our day with positive thoughts. People with positive attitude are caring, confident, patient, and humble. With a positive attitude you see the bright side of life, become optimistic, and expect the best to happen. What you think about yourself is also significant. Find out who you are according to the Word. Don’t listen to what the Negative people says; you define yourself by what God says about you. That means you are who God says that you are, you can have what God says you can have, you can do what God says you can do. When you are in Christ, there is no limit to the good things that are in you. A positive attitude leads to happiness and success and can change your whole life. It is certainly a state of mind that is well worth developing.

5000 years ago, a set of books known as "The Pentateuch" called it “The Law." And it says “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” (Joshua 1:8) 2000 years ago, another set of books known as "the gospels" called it “The Beatitudes." Jesus Christ gave us the Beatitudes known as the “Sermon on the Mount” which is recorded in gospel of Matthew 5-7. He teaches transformation of the inner person. All of the Beatitudes have an eschatological meaning, that is, they promise us salvation - not in this world, but in the next. While the Beatitudes of Jesus provide a way of life that promises salvation, they also provide peace in the midst of our trials and tribulations on this earth. The Beatitudes describe the ideal disciple and his rewards, both present and future.

73 years ago, clergyman Norman Vincent Peale called it "positive thinking." 25 years ago, psychologist Dr. Martin Seligman called it "learned optimism." 5 years ago, Professor Shawn Achor called it the "happiness advantage." But when you do a Google search on these terms, most people seem to sum up them together and simply refer to them as “Positive attitude," or "Positive thinking." There seems to be a general feeling ... that whatever we call it ... these terms have a lot to do with success in life and at work. Psychologists and cutting-edge scientists are now suggesting that our thoughts affect and ultimately determine the person we become. When we are positive, our brains become more engaged, creative, motivated, energetic, resilient, and productive. It’s no wonder the Proverbs says “Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life.”(Proverbs 4:23 NCV)

One of the challenges many struggle with today is keeping a clean thought life. Mind is the Master power that moulds and makes our attitude, and Man is Mind, and evermore he takes the tool of thought, and, shaping what he wills, Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills: —He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass: The condition of our minds determines the condition of our lives. Cigarette packages carry warnings that smoking may be hazardous to our health, but wrong thinking can also be hazardous to our health. In Genesis 6 passage, we see that God destroyed an entire world because the imagination of man’s thoughts—of their hearts—was only evil continually. God had to eradicate an entire generation because of their thought life. The wickedness of man springs from his thought life. So It is vital for our spiritual, mental, emotional—and even physical—health that we get control over our thought life. Galatians 6:7 says: “A man reaps what he sows.” Perhaps you’ve heard this quotation