Charles Pogue
Paul instructed the Corinthians to examine themselves whether they be in the faith (2 Cor. 13:5). There are a number of things that need to be involved in the self-examination process to which the apostles refers. While the word attitude does not appear in either the Old Testament or the new, the idea is there over and over again. For instance, when God saw that the condition of man before the flood was that his heart was on evil continually (Gen. 6:5), the concept of attitude is readily apparent. In John 10:13 when Jesus said the hireling does not care for the sheep, that person has an attitude problem. The examples from the scripture can be presented by the hundreds or even by the thousands. Attitudes both good and bad can be seen in most or all of the characters of the Bible.
The Christian must have the right attitude toward so many things. First of all, he must have the right attitude toward God. Paul mentions the Gentiles who did not retain God in their knowledge (Rom. 1:28). Because that was their attitude, they went into all kinds of sin. On the other hand, when Thomas, who had been missing the first time Jesus appeared to the disciples after His resurrection, was told to behold the Lord’s hands and thrust his hand into the Lord’s side, he said, “My Lord, and my God.” What my attitude is toward God is a thing about which I must examine myself. God is the Savior of the world, but He is also the judge of the world, and my salvation depends upon my recognition of those truths so that I will seek to serve Him in all that I do.
The Christian must have the right attitude toward the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). The Word of God must not be blasphemed (Tit. 2:5). Scripture was given by the inspiration of God and is profitable unto all things (2 Tim. 3:16,17). The Pharisees of Jesus Day made the Word of God of non-effect by their human traditions (Matt. 7:13). Religion today is filled with the traditions of man in part because of a bad attitude toward the Bible. We can and will avoid such actions if we will heed the command to study to show ourselves approved, and neither add to or take from God’s Word (2 Tim. 2:15; Rev. 22:18,19). The right attitude toward the Scripture will go a long way in correcting wrong attitudes toward many things.
How is our attitude toward Christ and His sacrifice for us? There are times in prayer when an individual who grasps the significance of the fact that, “Christ died for me,” the words to express the thanksgiving for that do not seem adequate. Without the crucifixion of Jesus, we would all still be in bondage to sin. Peter wrote concerning the crucifixion of Christ: “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed “(1 Peter 2:24). There is no other means of forgiveness than through blood of Christ, conditioned upon our faithful obedience to Him. How can a Christian fail to dwell on the significance of the cross every day?
What is our attitude toward the church? The world makes the church out to be a substitute for the failure of God in the flesh to set up an earthly kingdom. Jesus never came to this earth to set up an earthly, but rather a spiritual kingdom. He came to die for the church (Matt. 16:18; Acts 20:28). Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it (Eph. 5:25). His church, His body was in the mind of God from the very beginning (Eph. 3:9-11). Since the day of Pentecost, the saved have been added to the church of Christ (Acts 2:47). If the church is the saved, how can we ever have a poor attitude toward it, or towards Christ headship and authority over His body?
Since all men will be either lost eternally or preserved unto life everlasting, we must have the right attitude toward the lost. that attitude must be demonstrated by taking the Gospel to them as Christ instructed in the Great Commission (Matt. 28: 19, 20; Mark 16:15,16; Luke 24:47). If God loved us enough to send Christ to this world to save the world through Him, then we should love the lost enough to teach them upon every occasion we have. It is unbelievable that anyone would have the attitude of, “I’m saved myself, if you aren’t, that’s tough.” That person, because of a poor attitude is mistaken in believing that he is saved!
There are many things about which our attitude must be right. We have mentioned five that we are to have a positive attitude toward. Let’s close by mentioning one thing that our attitude toward should be one of hate. The Christian must hate sin. David made a point that should always be close to our hearts and minds. “Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way” (Psalm 119: 104). Whether the false ways we confront are matters of moral law, or as we know it, or God’s positive law, (laws God has given us to obey that are not based in moral laws themselves), we must hate them. To hate sin, we must know what it is. God has listed moral sins in both the Old and New Testaments, and we can reason, based upon Galatians 5:21 where Paul says, “and such like,” we can know what sin is, we can hate it, and we can avoid it.
As we noted, there are many other matters about which we must have the right attitude. If one has an attitude wherein this life and the things of this life are more important to him than spiritual ones, he has a wrong attitude. Unless he has a change in that attitude, he will never have the right one about anything else.
