Attitude Is Everything

There is a story about a young boy who received a chemistry set for his birthday. One morning he was playing with it and decided he was going to mix a smelly chemical with his dad's aftershave lotion. So that morning as the dad got out of the shower and shaved, and then put his aftershave on, he noticed that something stank. He then walked into the bedroom to get dressed and noticed the stinch was there as well. As he went to the kitchen to eat breakfast he asked his wife why the house stank. Then when he left for work, he still smelled the odor when he got outside and frustratingly said, "the whole world stinks."

What this dad didn't realize, was that the "stink" was on him. Attitude is a lot like that, isn't it? Perhaps we have been this way ourselves, or maybe we have known some to be this way. As Christians we are so much happier when we change our outlook on things. If we look for the negative, we will find it. There is little skill in that. And when it comes to sin, attitude is likely the first place we need to look.

Our attitude for the most part will make or break us as Christians. Paul charged Timothy to set an example in attitude (1 Timothy 4:12) and even exhorted the Philippians to think on good things and accentuate the positive (i.e., Philippians 4:8).

Notice what the psalmist has to say to Israel about attitude:

"and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God" (Psalm 78:8).

This generation of Israel's attitude literally cost them their entrance into the Promised Land. In a lot of ways our faithfulness to God hinges on attitude. Our disposition and demeanor, for the most part, will actually dictate whether or not we submit to God in faith.

Perhaps one of the greatest examples of a good attitude in the Bible is Joshua and Caleb. In Numbers 13, Moses sends twelve spies into the land of Canaan, which God had promised Israel. Moses sent them to spy out the land so that they could properly prepare in going in and conquering the land. Ten of the twelve spies came back with a negative report and in essence sent the entire nation into a frenzy. They said there was no way they could take this land because the enemy was too big and too great in number. But Joshua and Caleb knew differently. They had faith in God's presence with them and knew with the Almighty One on their side, they could conquer all things (cf. Philippians 4:13; Romans 8:28, 31). And God commended them for it:

"But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it" (Numbers 14:24).

Take note of the correlation between spirit (attitude) and submission. Caleb's attitude is what was different. That is what allowed him to stand out as unique before God. It is what distinguished him from everyone else. Obedience and keeping God's commands has everything to do with attitude. It comes from a disposition that trusts in God's ways more than our own. It is about a humility that realizes that life is not about us and therefore wants to be pleasing to God. Submission to God is about living and applying the Scriptures from the inside out. This why Jesus taught throughtout His ministry that it is the heart that matters (Matthew 5:20).

Attitude is everything!