What is Your Attitude Made Of?
What materials were used to build your attitude? Your attitudes in life were formed—you weren’t born with them. God’s Word affirms this fact. Okay, what stuff shapes our attitudes?
First, your personality (who you are). “You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.” (Psalm 139:13-14) Second, your environment (what’s around you). “Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” (Romans 5:12) Third, words spoken (what you hear). “Faith comes by hearing.” (Romans 10:17) Fourth, acceptance (what you feel). “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) Fifth, your self-image (how you see yourself). “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7) Sixth, new experiences (how you grow). “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14) Seventh, your peers (who you associate with). “A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” (Proverbs 18:24) Eighth, your appearance (how you look to others). “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7) Ninth, your family and employment (where you seek security). “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” (Psalm 46:1) Your attitude toward life is under construction, influenced by the world and the love of Christ. Understand the materials at work on your attitude.
Sin cera, Erik
Erik O. Garthe is Associate Pastor at Canton Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland.
