Spiritual Growth - VA

Spiritual Growth
The Importance Of A Positive Attitude – Part One

A good start toward spiritual growth is achieved when we:
Accept the challenge to obey God's command to grow - 2 Pe 3:18
Believe we are capable of growing with God's help - Ph 4:13
Set both behavioral and functional goals as described in the Scriptures:
1) Striving to develop Christ-like behavior - 2 Pe 1:5-8
2) Seeking to determine and develop our function in the body of Christ - Ro 12:3-5
Create good habits that slowly but surely help us reach those goals:
1) Habits that change our behavior (Bible reading, prayer, etc.) - 1 Pe 2:2; Ph 4:6-7
2) Habits that utilize our functions in the body of Christ (assembling, participating)
- He 10:24-25; Ro 12:6-8

For spiritual growth to continue, however, requires maintaining a positive attitude:
Believing that all our efforts will be worthwhile - 1 Co 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”
Encouraging us to persevere through difficult times - 2 Co 4:8-9 “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;”

Paul certainly had a positive attitude. But why is a positive attitude so important to spiritual growth...? Let’s look into this question, but first we need to look at the the dangers of a negative or “I/we can’t” attitude. The danger in a negative attitude is illustrated in the example of the twelve spies of Israel. Ten did not believe they could take the land of Canaan - Num 13:31 “Then the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are."’ Their negative attitude discouraged the rest of Israel - Num 13:32-14:4 “So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, "The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them." Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?" And they said to one another, "Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt."’; se also 32:7-9 “Why will you discourage the heart of the people of Israel from going over into the land that the LORD has given them? Your fathers did this, when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land. For when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the people of Israel from going into the land that the LORD had given them.” It led to Israel complaining and rebelling against God - Deu 1:26-28 ‘"Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. And you murmured in your tents and said, 'Because the LORD hated us he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, "The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there."' It prompted them not to believe in God - Deu 1:29-33 “Then I said to you, 'Do not be in dread or afraid of them. The LORD your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.' Yet in spite of this word you did not believe the LORD your God, who went before you in the way to seek you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night and in the cloud by day, to show you by what way you should go.” It resulted in many dying in the wilderness - Num 14:26-38. When negative attitudes are allowed to develop we stop believing in God and in ourselves; we stop trying to do what God wants us to do; we discourage those around us in that negativity is contagious; and we fail to reach the goals God has placed before us.

The value of a positive attitude is illustrated in the example of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. The people had a mind to work - Neh 4:6 “So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.” It helped them overcome ridicule by their enemies - Neh 4:1-3 “Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, "What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?" Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, "Yes, what they are building--if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!"’ Their positive attitude and willingness to work led to the rebuilding of the walls - Neh 6:15 “So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days.”

When positive attitudes are maintained we continue to believe in God and our ability to serve Him; we keep trying to do what God wants us to do; we encourage those around us, and overcome those who would discourage us; thus we ultimately reach the goals that God has placed before us. Spiritual growth, like any other successful venture, requires a positive attitude! With it, God will help us reach our goals for spiritual growth. Without it, we fall short of becoming what God would have us to be. When we continue this lesson we will look at how we can maintain a positive mental attitude.