I’ve got a new attitude!

6236864_SS When my children were little, a discipline technique I used when they began to act up was to look them in the eye and ask, “Do you need an attitude adjustment?”   Because I had laid an earlier foundation of what an attitude adjustment was, this question seemed to have a magical recuperative power.  What had moments before been bad behavior suddenly was replaced with good behavior.

I thought of this as I was considering the truth contained in the following verses:

“The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.”  (Deuteronomy 30:6)

“and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from following them, to do them good; and I will put my fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from me.”  (Jeremiah 32:40)

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36:26)

It strikes me as marvelous good news that God has implanted within us a new attitude–a new disposition that inclines toward loving Him and not wanting to depart!  This is what the Apostle Paul was referring to when he stated, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God…” (2 Corinthians 5:17)  I forget this truth and often pray asking God to give me love for others, give me a heart that desires to affirm rather than to be affirmed, give me a forgiving heart.  The restful wonder of what it means to be “in Christ” is that He already has! 

“These new inclinations for doing God’s will were given to you before the light of Scripture ever brought any aspect of God’s will to your attention.  James calls it “the implanted word,” which he tells us to receive with meekness.”  James is saying in essence, “Take hold of what you already have, that which is innate to your new nature.”  Ponder with your mind what God has already made your heart desire!

The birthright of every believer is an inner self that’s supernaturally inscribed with the whole of Christ’s teachings and commands–even to the extent that “we have the mind of Christ” as Scripture says.

Every command we come across in the Bible is therefore a vigorous reminder to do what we already desire.  The Scriptures simply clarify in our minds what we already want to do in our regenerate heart.”  ((Dwight Edwards, Revolution Within, p.112))

What an awesome truth!  How encouraging that today my task is not to plead with God to give me something to help me through the circumstances of life but to appropriate what He has already given and praise Him for His great generosity!