Adopting Kingdom Attitudes

Description

Normally, attitude is a comportment a person adopts towards other people, things, incidents, or happenings. Our attitude determines how we react to adversity, our ability to grow and learn, our ability to overcome challenges, and our ability to create bonds with others.

In essence, there are a lot of major and true shifts that we can make regarding our relationship with everything. Our attitude towards adversity, challenges, hard work, learning from within, success, self-reliance and independence, freedom, our dreams, people we disagree with, people we do not like, parts of ourselves we do not like, and on, and on, and on…

Attitude is also a predisposition or propensity to respond positively or negatively to a certain idea, object, person, or situation. It influences an individual’s choice of action and responses to challenges, incentives, and rewards.

All these attitudes are supportive of the world system, or Satan’s kingdom. Most of us are living the attitude of this earth and becoming servants of the world system.

But the Scriptures tell us that we are spiritual beings who happen to be temporarily living in a physical body on earth. Because we no longer belong to the world system or Satan’s kingdom, it is reasonable to conclude that our attitudes and standards must change to conform to those of God’s kingdom.

The issue is not whether the world system is real or whether we should consider it. Rather, it is a matter of realizing the greater reality of another system and reshaping our thinking so we can live effectively in it.

The apostle Paul wrote about the attitude a Christian should have: “Let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27). He is telling us that no matter what unexpected disruptions, hindrances, or difficulties come our way, we are to respond with a Christ-like attitude. Our attitude should be the same as that of Jesus Christ. He also encourages us to be imitators of Christ as dearly beloved children.