Consider Your Attitude

The above verses are about humility and obedience. They’re about Jesus, who was perfectly humble and perfectly obedient to the Father. He is our example, and we are commanded to live like Him in humility and obedience. Humility and obedience are not values of the world, but they remain the way of life for everyone who professes the name of Jesus. Humility and obedience are a Christian mindset. A mindset is a set pattern of behaviour – how you habitually react or respond to what people say and how they act towards you. The mind is set in a way that also affects our reactions. In consequence, all our relationships are affected. You can’t really separate attitudes from reactions.

Humility and obedience caused Jesus to give up His right to be treated as God. He became a human being and took upon Himself our sinful human nature, but never sinned. He gave up the glory of His kingship to be treated like a servant. He also gave up His own life that we might live, and His own righteousness so that He might die as a sinner on a cross of shame.

Jesus demonstrated that humility and obedience cannot be separated. “He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.” He also demonstrated that this is the heart of His genuine followers. Because of who God is, it is the height of pride to disobey Him. The Bible tells us that obedience to God is always for our good and for the good of our children (Deuteronomy 5:29). Frustration and lack of fulfilment in life often lies in disobedience to revealed truth.

By the grace of God, we can each have the attitude of Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the one who leads us into humility and enables us to be fully obedient at every turn on our pathway. Maybe we will not all see obedience in the same way. Instant obedience is true obedience when we live life in the Spirit instead of the flesh. The Holy Spirit witnesses with our Spirit. He truly speaks to us and tells us what we should do, and we do it immediately without fear or deliberation.

Complete obedience is the opposite to partial obedience, which is picking and choosing what I obey. In God’s sight this is disobedient. King Saul was told to destroy everything in relation to the Amalekites after defeating them (1 Samuel 15:15-23). But he kept back the best of the sheep and the oxen. Consequently, he lost his leadership position and was told by Samuel, the prophet, that his act was one of rebellion and arrogance (1 Samuel 15:22-23).

Joyful obedience is the obedience of love. Grumbling, complaining and dissatisfaction do not fit in with joy. The children of Israel were in God’s will when they left Egypt for the promised land. Because they constantly grumbled and complained and looked back to better days, Joshua and Caleb were the only two people who entered the promised land. Even Moses was not allowed to enter because he disobeyed God in his desperation for water. God told him to speak to the rock but he struck it with his staff.

Unconditional obedience can only come from a humble heart – a Jesus filled heart. I obey Him unconditionally, simply because I love Him.