CHANGE OF ATTITUDE


One of the most amazing things about God to me is the fact that He created us with the “FREE WILL” to choose to accept Him. Now I know the huge theological discussion that exists between Calvinism and Arminianism over the attempt to explain the relationship between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility in the matter of salvation. But please don’t get distracted by that rather I want you to think about how God allows us to live and choose to follow or reject Him. God our maker does not need us to make Himself complete nor was He lonely, but He chose to create us and allowed us to live freely in our own thoughts and mind. I believe that this characteristic of God shows how blessed we are and this should make our attitude towards Him to be positive and always wanting to please Him. Every truth that is revealed to us in God’s Word is there not only for our information but also for our inspiration. All scripture has been given to us by the inspiration of God, not to gratify an idle curiosity but to edify our souls and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that we may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works (2 Timothy 3:16 emphasis mine).

 The sovereignty of God is something more than an abstract principle which explains the principle of the God’s government: it is made known to us for the promotion of righteous living, and it is revealed in order to bring into subjection our rebellious hearts. A true recognition of God’s sovereignty humbles us as nothing else does or can, and brings our heart into lowly submission before God, causing us to relinquish our own self-will and making us delight in His direction and performance of His Divine will.

 What then should be our attitude toward God? Reverence for God and complete obedience to God are two vital keys. 

1. Reverence For God: (Luke 12:5; Proverbs 16:6) Today, many of us are so utterly unconcerned about spiritual and eternal things. They are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God? Why is it that the authority of the Scriptures has been lowered so sadly of late? Why is it that even among Christians there is so little real subjection to God’s Word, and His principles are so lightly esteemed and so readily set aside? Because many want to act religious and still be identified with their unbelieving friends who have refused to have anything to do with Jesus. Remember that each one of us will one day stand before the Almighty and give account of our lives; how we used the authority, power, gifts, resources, grace, mercy, etc, given to us. What then will be your excuse? I pray that the Lord will give you the boldness to stand on the Word of God, live according to and by it daily in Jesus name, Amen!  

 

2. Complete Obedience: (Deuteronomy 28:1; James 1:22) Naturally, man is filled with a sense of his own importance, with his greatness and self-sufficiency; in a word, with pride and rebellion. Man will glory either in himself or in God. Man will live either to serve and please himself, or he will seek to serve and please the Lord. None can serve two masters. Irreverence (having no fear of God) begets disobedience. And Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord; neither will I let Israel go" (Ex. 5:2). To Pharaoh, the God of the Hebrews was merely a god, one among many, a powerless entity who needed not to be feared or served. How sadly mistaken he was, and how bitterly he had to pay for his mistake, he soon discovered; but what we are here seeking to emphasize is that, Pharaoh’s defiant spirit was the fruit of irreverence, and this irreverence was the consequence of his ignorance of the majesty and authority of God.

Now if irreverence begets disobedience, true reverence will produce and promote obedience. To realize that the Scripture is a revelation from God (2 Timothy 3:16), communicating to us His mind and defining for us His will, it is the first step toward practical godliness. To recognize that the Bible is God’s Word, and that its precepts are the principles of the Almighty, will lead us to see what an awful thing it is to despise and ignore them. To receive the Bible as addressed to our own souls, given to us by the Creator Himself, will cause us to cry with the Psalmist, "Order my steps in Thy Word" (Ps. 119: 133). It will no longer be a matter of picking and choosing or selecting from God’s Word which meet with our approval; but it will be seen that nothing less than an unqualified and whole-hearted submission to God’s Word becoming our life styles.

When we reverence and obey God consistently then we can be able to pray like Jesus prayed; “Father, if thou be willing remove this cup from me. Nevertheless not my will but thine be done”  (Luke 22:42)

Excerpts from The Sovereignty of God (chpt 10) Arthur W. Pink

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