ATTITUDES

ATTITUDES
The word "ATTITUDE" is not found in the Bible, as such, but there are at least a couple of places where a SYNONYMOUS word is used. In both places, there is an implication made that we can CONTROL our relationship to other things, or people, or circumstances. "ATTITUDE" defines our POSITION of relationship to these other things.
Philippians 2:5 Let this MIND (Strong's 5426) be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Here the key word is "LET THIS MIND" be in you. YOU can control the state of your mind. If you are happy, it is because you CHOOSE to be happy. If you are glum, it is because you CHOOSE to be glum. Circumstances are unable to control our state of mind. We do that-- every day.
The word "MIND" (Strong's 5426) is translated "SET AFFECTION" in Colossians 3:2 SET YOUR AFFECTION on things above, not on things on the earth.
Here, again, the word "SET" puts the responsibility squarely on our shoulders. We love what we WANT to love. We are NOT like pawns on the chess board. We are NOT VICTIMS of our likes and dislikes. We CAN control our affections. Our MINDSET is the result of choices which WE make.
Surveys have shown that when people are "laid off" in large corporations, 37% are caused by incompetence. The other 53% are dismissed because of an ATTITUDE DEFICIENCY. Attitudes have a direct bearing on relationships at work, at home, and in the community.
Having (cultivating) a poor attitude REPELS people, even our friends, from us. They don't like to be around us.
Conversely, people tend to GRAVITATE toward a person who has a cheerful, positive attitude toward his circumstances, and life in general.

There is a poem I had to learn over 60 years ago:
"I read within a poet's book, a word that starred the page.
'Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage.'
Yes, that is true, and something more, you'll find where 'ere you roam
That gilded walls and marble floors
can never make a home.
But every house where love abides,
and friendship is a guest
Is surely home, and Home Sweet Home,
for there the heart can rest." (author forgotten)

Our homes are what we make them by our attitudes in the vicissitudes of everyday life.
No one likes to wash dirty dishes, but we need to be THANKFUL for dirty dishes instead of griping about them.
Sometimes we have a tendency to wish we had better things than we have, and perhaps envy those who do.
Possessions can "grab" our hearts to such an extent they contribute to our Spiritual ruin. "Remember Lot's wife"
Our father Abraham, who became a FRIEND OF GOD, had two predominant things in his life-- A TENT, and AN ALTAR. A tent is sufficient if you have been promised the world, and are looking for a city that has foundations-- an Eternal, enduring city. A tent is a declaration that we are pilgrims and strangers here-- just passing through. A transitory tennant.
The altar helps in the preparation of the heart to inhabit that Eternal City. What else is important?
Many of us today have such elaborate houses and other possessions that our worship has to be curtailed just to take care of our holdings. "Where your treasure is."
Is this right in the sight of God?