As A Man Thinks
As A Man Thinks
Proverbs 23:7:"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."
Have you ever watched sailing boats?
The boats would go in one direction for a while, then they would go in another direction.
They would they would move in the direction that their skippers wanted them to go.
The wind was constant through all of this -- the difference was in the set of their sails.
The setting of the sails determines where the sail boats would go.
Much of the success or failure of a man's life depends, not so much upon the events
that come into that life, as upon the set of the sails, or the attitudes with which the man faces
the events of his life.
Proverbs 23:7 which says, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."
The attitudes that we have largely determine whether life seems .....
heavy and burdensome, or whether we rise over our difficulties to become radiantly triumphant.
One man with essentially the same circumstances of life becomes a great person;
another becomes discouraged, despondent, and eventually a failure.
Much of the final outcome depends upon the attitude of heart, the set of the sails.
We can divide people's attitudes into negative attitudes and positive attitudes.
We could also call them bad attitudes and good attitudes.
There is the hyper-critical attitude that so many people may have.
This person is looking at everything through a critical eye.
If it is a television program or a sports event, the hyper-critical do not see the skill that is evident,
but they do see all the faults.
If they are talking about the behavior of a neighbor, the good things are not noticed,
but all the flaws are singled out for special attention.
The Screwtape Letters by C. L. Lewis is an ingenuous little book which imagines that Screwtape,
who is one of the exalted devils in hell, is writing to his nephew, Wormwood, up on the earth.
These are letters of instruction on how that Wormwood can wage the best campaign
against the enemy.
Of course, the enemy is Christ.
In the 17th chapter of The Screwtape Letters there is a description of a sweet, saintly, little, old lady.
If you had stopped her to ask her for an appraisal of herself, she would have been
too modest to give it, but if she had given it she would have described herself
as a lovely, saintly, little Christian.
But, when it came time for tea in the afternoon, she was a tyrant.
The servant girl never prepared the tea properly.
It was either too hot or too cold or it was either too strong or too weak.
And the toast was either too dry and too hard, or it had not been toasted enough.
She would exclaim, "You just cannot find servants that know how to do things anymore."
Actually, she was a tyrant -- no one could have pleased her..
When the servant brought the food for the evening meal, it was too much,
and, under the guise of being very frugal and not wanting to waste, she would send it back
in order that just the proper amount fixed in just the proper way should be brought.
It is to easy for any of to get into the negative way of thinking; it is so easy to see the faults
of others, and it is too easy to become critical, and even hypercritical.
It gets easier as we grow older and as our physical infirmities increase.
Yet, this is one of the attitudes of life that each one of us must will pray to avoid.
This was an attitude of which Jesus addressed in Matthew 7 when He said:
"Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged:
and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you.
And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam
that is in thine own eye?" (Matt. 7:1-3).
The attitude that we have toward others is the standard of measurement that God will use on us.
The uncritical, kind person with the generous heart is the one who is most nearly like our Lord.
Another negative attitude that we should avoid is the attitude of a closed mind.
When Jesus was here on earth he performed the greatest miracles that have ever been performed.
He healed the sick of every kind; he even raised the dead.
But tragically the Pharisees and the Sadducees -- the leaders of the Jews -- had closed their minds.
The had a completely closed mind about Jesus.
They had made up their minds as to what the Messiah would be like, and Jesus didn't fit
their image of the Messiah so they wrote Him off.
There were others who closed their minds about Jesus.
In the 9th chapter of Luke Jesus would like to spend the night in a town in Samaria.
The Samaritans turned him away and closed their gates against the blessings
that He might have brought them through His teaching and through His miracles.
They cursed themselves because they had closed minds.
In Acts 13:46 the apostle Paul is in Antioch of Pisidia, preaching.
He preached first to the Jews, as his instructions were, then he said,
"It was necessary that the word of God should first be spoken to you.
Seeing ye thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the gentiles."
The closed mind attitude has prevented many in Biblical days and in our day from knowing
God and receiving His great salvation.
Then, there is the attitude of envy or jealousy.
Our world is divided into different classes of people.
There are those who have and those who have not.
There are the rich and the poor.
So many times the poor have a rather negative view of the rich.
A person who has to struggle to pay his bills at the end of the month can have an envious attitude
toward those who don't have to struggle.
Then there can be tensions between employers and employees, between parents and children,
and between many other groups.
It is so easy for one group to look at another and not like the other group.
The attitude of jealousy, or of wanting what somebody else has, is an attitude that destroys
the ones who want.
It hurts both groups, but it always hurts the one who envies most.
Exodus 20:17 says, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet
thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass,
nor anything that is thy neighbor's."
The attitude of wanting what other people have whether it be education, or house, or money,
is an attitude that brings hurt to our own hearts.
Let us rejoice with those who have more than we have.
Let us be thankful for their blessings and wish them well.
Let us be concerned for their welfare as we are for our own.
The attitude of jealousy slips easily into the attitude of hatred, and the attitude of retaliation.
It is sometimes expressed, "He can't do that to me. I'll get even if it's the last thing I do."
This is attitude is condemned in the writings of Paul to the Romans.
Near the end of the twelfth chapter of Romans, Paul writes,
"Avenge not yourselves, beloved, but give place unto the wrath of God: for it is written,
Vengeance belongeth unto me; I will recompense, saith the Lord.
But if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt
heap coals of fire upon his head." (Romans 12:19-20).
In Matthew 18:21-22 Peter came to Jesus and asked him, "Lord, how oft shall my brother sin
against me, and I forgive him? until seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee,
Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven " (Matt. 18:21-22).
We must not have the attitude toward others of hatred or of retaliation.
Our attitude must be that of kindness and good will.
There are other attitudes like the attitude of pride, in which we become the center of our lives
and become proud of ourselves.
The Jews had that problem.
When John the Baptist came to introduce Christ he said, "Think not to say within yourselves,
we have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up
children unto Abraham." (Matt. 3:9).
The Jews were proud of the blood in their veins, and they were proud of their traditions.
Pride has always been ugly and always will be.
The self-centered attitude, the attitude of fear, and many more are attitudes that Christians
must pray to avoid.
We must cultivate the attitude of love and respect.
That should mean love and respect toward God.
The greatest of all the commandments is "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength."
The second commandment, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." (Mark 12:39-31)
We should pray for an attitude of love toward others as well as toward God.
This is a desire for good of others.
We should pray that their children may prosper and be in health, as we pray for our own.
We pray a prayer for the other man's success in business, as we pray for our own success.
Remember, the passage in Romans 12:10 where Paul writes, "In love of the brethren
be tenderly affectioned one to another; in honor preferring one another."
It is an attitude of good will, an attitude of real concern for other people.
As God's children we must go through life not weighted down with envy or hatred
or some other of the negative attitudes.
But we can go through life happier and more useful because we have set our sails
in the right direction.
A person's attitudes are basic in determining whether he is going to be happy
and whether he is going to be successful.
If you know a person's attitudes, you will know how many friends he has, and even if he is doing
well in his business.
If you know the attitudes of a husband or a wife, then you can tell the kind of home life they have.
And even more important a person's attitude will determine where he or she will spend eternity.
Our attitudes toward God and Christ and toward their commands are vital.
Our attitude toward Christ is the most important attitude of our lives, for it will determine
whether we receive Him as our Saviour and obey His commands.