Introduction: The Importance of a Good Attitude
“Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” (Isa. 66:1-2)
We cannot control the events that are taking place around us – we cannot control our circumstances – but we can control our attitude, or our spirit. “The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.” (1 Cor. 14:32). The Lord has the heaven for His throne, and the earth for His footstool, and He needs nothing from but “a contrite spirit”.
God is interested in our attitude. “Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?” (Heb. 12:9). God is called the “Father of spirits” because He deals primarily with the inner man. He is not merely looking to reform our outward conduct, but what governs us inwardly. If the Lord allows you to become a parent, you will realize that one of the hardest things to do is make your child have a good attitude. You can get them to obey, but they have to want to have a good attitude.
There are many examples of how a good attitude allowed the people of God to overcome tremendous evil. One example is Corrie ten Boom, the daughter of a Dutch watchmaker. The ten Boom family hid Jewish refugees in their home in Harlem. An informant told the Gestapo of their “Hiding Place” and the whole family was arrested, while the refuges were safety removed by resistance workers. Corrie and her sister Betsie were imprisoned together, and eventually wound up in Ravensbrück concentration camp, where they were surrounded by hunger, cruelty, disease, and death. What made the difference was their attitude. At first, Corrie struggled with bitterness and anger. But she learned, especially from her sister Betsie, to change her attitude. Instead of focusing on injustice, they continually turned their thoughts to God: thanking Him, praying, and encouraging others. According to Corrie, Betsie led by example with her attitude. There was one incident that especially shows this. Their barracks became infested with fleas. Corrie complained bitterly, but Betsie insisted they thank God even for the fleas. Later they discovered the guards avoided the barracks because of the fleas: allowing them freedom to read the Word of God aloud and minister to other prisoners. Their circumstances did not change, but their spirit did, and that spirit changed the atmosphere around them.
The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ with Our Spirit
It is interesting that at the close of four of Paul’s epistles, in his benedictory prayer, he prays for grace applied to the spirit, not merely to circumstances.
- In Galatians 6:18 after correcting the serious error of legality in the assemblies of Galatia, Paul says “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit”. How we need grace to receive correction!
- In Philippians 4:23 after addressing the roots of dis-unity in the assembly in Philippi, Paul says “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit”. How we need grace to go on in unity with our brethren!
- In Philemon 25 after asking Philemon to forgive his runaway servant Onesimus, Paul says “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit”. How we need grace to forgive one another!
- Finally, in 2 Timothy 4:22, in his final words to Timothy after telling him of the difficulty of the pathway, we read “The Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Grace be with you.” How we need grace to continue in the pathway of faith!
It is helpful to see that it was not merely grace in all four of these examples, but grace connected with the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our pattern and example!
Christ is the perfect example of the gracious spirit that God wants us to have. Paul could say, “Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” (2 Cor. 8:9). He came down uncalled, moved purely by grace. He constantly focused on the interests and the good of others, and was willing to set aside His own will, firstly to do the will of God, and then to please others. “For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.” (Rom 15:3).
In His pathway down here, the Lord Jesus passed over personal insults and did not defend His own honor. They said, “Thou art a Samaritan…” and He did not reply. (John 8:48; Proverbs 19:11). He was like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers (Isa. 53:7). He was misunderstood and failed by His disciples, yet remained gracious: “the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter.” (Luke 22:61). Finally, His words were gracious, even when searching: “And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” (Luke 4:22).
I want to look at three aspects in our Christian life where a right spirit is tested and displayed.
A Right Spirit with Regard to Our Circumstances
“And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him” (Heb. 12:5)
When the Lord chastens us, the right attitude will:
- Not despise it, sluff it off, or discount it as a random thing.
- Nor will it faint under it, wrongly thinking that God is trying to harm us, and becoming depressed.
But rather, the right spirit in trial will:
- Be exercised by it, to seek to learn the lesson the Lord is trying to teach us. “Nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”
Our attitude should be one of submission under God’s hand: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time” (1 Peter 5:6).
We need to have a teachable spirit, that we would be sensitive to the Lord’s leading. Israel had a long history of refusing the movements of the Holy Spirit: “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye” (Acts 7:51).
Out attitude should also be patient: “But let patience have her perfect work” (James 1:4). We often interfere in God’s work in us and spoil the fruit of it. An impatient child pulls the carrot out of the ground prematurely, not willing to allow time for fruitful growth. If we submit to God’s will, things will go much better. Rather than desperately seek to escape the trial, we should seek to learn from it. We must remember that God is more interested in the work He is doing in us than the work He is doing through us. Sometimes we think the trials are slowing us down, even slowing us down in service to the Lord. But God has His highest priority: to conform us to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:28-29)!
A Right Spirit with Regard to Our Brethren
“Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” (Phil. 2:3-4).
It can be especially hard to maintain a right spirit in our interactions with our brethren, because we see the flesh in one another. When contention rises between brethren, we know that pride is at work somewhere (Prov. 13:10). In Philippians, Paul addresses the spirit that we should have to promote unity and peace in the assembly, and goes on to set before them the example of Christ Jesus, who did not insist on His own rights, but went lower, and lower. When wrongs are done to us, we are to forgive one another (Eph. 4:32). Love would have us to be kind, and to refrain from imputing evil motives to the actions of others (1 Cor. 13:4-5). Finally, we should have an attitude of submission to those who are older, and humility toward all our brethren, old or young (1 Peter 5:5).
A Right Spirit with Regard to the Word of God
“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)
We find a very different reception of the gospel among the Jews in the Berea as compared to the Jews in Thessalonica. The Berean Jews “received the word with all readiness of mind”. This means that they heard about Jesus and Paul’s explanation of how He came in accordance with the scriptures, died, and rose again; and they accepted it! This was no small thing for Jews to receive. We too need to receive the truth of God with readiness of mind. It requires having a humble and teachable spirit. But the second thing they did is equally important; “daily searching the scriptures if these things were so”. As Paul preached, and they received, the Bereans searched the Old Testament scriptures to verify what Paul was saying. This was a “daily” ongoing thing, and it required diligence and attention to the Word of God. We too need to show the same energy; “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thess. 5:21).