Light Brings Salt
Volume 1, Issue 19 November 30, 2003
Dedicated to the
Systematic Exposition of the Word of God
Mental Attitude
Stability in the Christian Life
As a believer progresses in his or her Christian life, they experience many profound changes in his thinking. His standards change gradually but radically; his frame of reference changes; his mental attitude soon becomes very different from what it once was. His previous way of thinking is replaced by the "mind of Christ" - God's viewpoint is becoming his own.
The greatest occupational hazard faced by a Christian is the failure to grow in Christ. Persistent personal sin carried on without repentance and confession keeps the Christian out of fellowship with the Lord and hinders the work of the Holy Spirit in the life.
The normal Christian life is a supernatural life. This life cannot be lived apart from the consistent intake of spiritual food, the sustenance which comes with the study of the Bible accompanied by the continuous empowering and ministry of the Holy Spirit. Inattention to the teaching of the Word of God concerning the mechanics of daily Christian living results in failure to grow in Christ. The believer who will not overcome these problems will not be able to enjoy the benefits and blessings of the Christian life, and he will certainly not be productive as a child of God.
This article reviews several factors relating to the subject of the believer's mental attitude. First, we note several categories of mental attitude sin which are the result of "not thinking truth". Then we see the methods by which God arranges for human viewpoint thinking to be replaced with divine viewpoint thinking. This study will also show some of the important results in the life of the Christian who develops a godly mental attitude.
THE SIN OF "NOT THINKING GRACE"
A Christian decides many times every day whether he will follow God's plan for his life. In decisions great or small he expresses either his dependence on the Lord or his desire to be independent of God's direction. A believer has access to the perfect plan of God for his life, a plan which has certain predetermined divine standards by which every situation can be measured, by which every decisive opportunity can be judged. Many promises and blessings are available for use by the person who orders his life according to the patterns laid out in the Bible.
The person who is not positive to the plan of God, and who would apply his own human standards to life situations, does not operate by divine standards. He becomes involved in a variety of mental attitude sin problems stemming from his original decision to be independent of God. His life takes on the characteristics of one who does not "think Grace".
Grace is that characteristic of God by which He is able to relate to the human race based on the Cross work of Christ and which causes Him to provide for man's needs for time and eternity. The sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the Cross is the Work which made it possible for God to view every one who believes in Christ as free from the guilt and penalty of sin and as an object of God's Grace provisions.
Failure to order one's thinking according to Grace involves several aspects of mental attitude sin, including the following :
Love of, or desire for, human approbation and praise -- this is a secret fondness for being noticed and recognized. It is a love of supremacy, or it is the drawing of attention to oneself by various types of exhibitionism or by spiritual one-upmanship.
Self will -- this is the concept of the stubborn of being unteachable , or implacability. Self will is a disposition to be argumentative, harsh, bitter, which causes one to be a "nit picker" or critical in the extreme, or to mind the business of others, or to fail to recognize the rights and privacy of others.
Sinful reaction to social pressures -- these are the sins of anger, impatience, or of having a sensitive nature. There is often resentment and retaliation when disapproved or contradicted. This area of sin generates jealousy, sour grapes, envy, and the accompanying bitterness, hatred, carrying of grudges, revenge tactics, and so forth.
Magnifying the faults and failings of others while emphasizing one's own virtues.
Negative disposition -- this is peevishness, a fretful disposition, one that loves to be coaxed and honored. It is a dishonest, deceitful attitude. It is a disposition that tends toward discouragement and despondency under pressure along with the attempt to solve one's problems by hysteria and tantrums.
Apathy -- this sin is that of indifference to doctrine and to the Word of God in general. It is indifferences to the lost condition of unbelievers or to the carnal condition of other believers.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BELIEVER'S MENTAL ATTITUDE
The true character of a believer in Jesus Christ is determined by his mental attitude. Prov. 23:7, "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he". See also 1 Pet. 1:13; 4:1; Heb. 12:3; Col. 3:1,2; 1 Cor. 2:16; 2 Cor. 10:4,5.
A Christian's mental attitude is not always apparent in his actions, but God always knows perfectly what a person is thinking. Heb. 4:12,13; Prov. 21:2. The following are examples of mental attitude thinking.
Worldliness is a mental attitude. Worldliness is not the doing of something wrong; it is the thinking which takes place independently of God's viewpoint. The remedy to the problem of worldliness is not in turning over a new leaf. It is a change in thinking rather than a change in activity. Divine viewpoint must replace human viewpoint before a change in character can be expected. One can have an outward life which appears good, yet be filled with mental attitude sins. Col. 3:2; James 4:4.
True Christian inner peace is a mental attitude. It is the relaxed mental state which enables one to enjoy the Christian life regardless of people or outward circumstances. With a good mental attitude, the believer can be joyful, relaxed, and can even enjoy the battle.
Mental stability is the result of thinking from a proper frame of reference, that is, Biblical thinking. The Christian who has mental fear, who is a chronic worrier, who cannot think clearly under pressure, who blames others for his problems, who cannot make correct decisions -- that believer is unstable. His emotions interfere with his thinking. Since emotion always follows thinking, emotional instability will always follow from incorrect (HVP) thinking. But God's Plan of Grace leads to rock-solid mental and emotional stability.
MAN'S IDEAS VS. DIVINE VIEWPOINT
Thinking requires words - vocabulary. Divine thinking requires divine vocabulary. "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." Under any kind of spiritual pressure, human vocabulary, or human thinking, is not adequate. Only God's words can give the ability to think correctly under pressure. The Christian's ability to think correctly that is to think God's thoughts after Him is based on how much wisdom and understanding of truth is in the soul of the believer. All of which must be believed.
The Christian is commanded to have a new mental attitude. Col. 3:1,2; Rom 12:1-2; 2 Cor. 10:4,5; 1 Cor. 2:16; Phil. 2:5.
The warfare between two viewpoints in the believer's soul must be fought from within, first by knowledge of doctrine, and then by the application of truth to the life. 2 Tim. 2:15-17; Col 1:9-11.
Every believer has a mind which is capable of looking at life from God's point of view. Rom. 1:18 ff.
Mental attitude divine viewpoint is obtained only through Bible study accompanied by the empowering ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Christian can be only be "transformed by the renewing of the mind" through study, knowledge, and living out of the truth from the Word. By this means his decisions and actions are most likely to be in agreement with Bible principles. And this is the only sure sign of Christian maturity and that we're living the Christian life.