Mental Attitude

So for a very few minutes, we're going to have a little heart-to-heart talk together about something that I feel concerns all of us. A great teacher once said, a good mental attitude is better than mental ability. For your attitude tells the world what you expect from life, and you will receive exactly that, no more, no less.

When I said to you a second ago that the only limit to the power of God lies within you, I meant exactly that. God knows no limit to His power. He is still God Almighty.

You limit Him in your asking, in your lack of faith, in your attitude toward Him. And the very same thing is true of life. Your attitude tells the world what you expect from life, and you'll receive from life exactly what you expect, no more, no less.

Perhaps the Word of God has put the finger on the secret. Oh sure, you know it. Perhaps you didn't know exactly where to find it in the Word of God.

But it's there in Proverbs, the 23rd chapter, the 7th verse. For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. In other words, as a man thinketh, his mental attitude, so is that person.

A thought precedes a deed. You want to know something? Every normal man or woman longs more keenly for love, for warm friendship, admiration, human responsiveness from his fellows, than for anything else in life. But what men and women do not see is the fact that the miracle of receiving from others must begin on the inside of himself.

It must begin inside of his own mind. He is the one when he begins passing out love, giving love, he gets love in return. But he'll never get warmth, kindness, love, until he begins giving it out.

And it's just like that. Have you ever noticed that the higher you go on the human scale, the nicer the people are? It's all a matter of attitude. You can tell a great deal about a person just from studying his attitude.

His attitude about others. His attitude about life in general. His attitude about the folk with whom he works.

People are mean, suspicious, vindictive outwardly only when they are mean, suspicious, vindictive inwardly. That's what the Bible means. As a man thinketh, so is he.

And the more confident a person is of his own value as a person, the better his attitude toward others and the world in general. A man can't be mean in his deeds and be wonderful on the inside. No.

When you see a person who is mean and catty and small and jealous and does unkindness to others, be dead sure that that person is mean on the inside. He has mean thoughts. His attitude in general is mean and unkind.

Big people just naturally treat you well. People who are good on the inside produce good deeds. They're forgiving.

They're big about everything. They're courteous. They're confident, being happy with themselves.

They're effective. They have nothing to fear. They overlook the meanness in other people because somehow they just don't see the meanness in other folk because mentally they're good.

In their own living, in their own lives, they're good. It's easy for them to forgive. They're not suspicious because they are not underhanded themselves.

Only little people will treat you badly. These are the people who have never really grown up or matured. Something's stunned at their inner growth, their confidence in themselves.

And since you're not happy within, happiness won't radiate from that life of yours. That's just the truth. They're not confident in their own ability and their own worth as an individual.

And they can only see the world in their own reflection. And therefore they are small in their thinking, in their values. And as a result, their treatment of you is a kind of punishment of themselves.

We can only love others to the extent that we love ourselves by carefully observing how others treat you, particularly strangers such as clerks and salesmen and elevator operators and gas station attendants. You can make a fairly good evaluation of what these people think of themselves. So the higher you go in any business of value, the nicer the people seem to become.

Their good attitudes did not come as a result of their better jobs. Their better jobs came to them as a result of their attitudes. Someone may say, I'd be happy too if I had what he's got.

It's the natural tendency to think his attitude is a result of his success. But that's not the case. It's just the reverse.

The reverse is true. Each of us attracts the kind of life that we as individuals represent. That is, before a person can achieve something, he must become the kind of person that this something would naturally belong to.

We must first be the person we would like to be before the things that person would have can come to us. Now that might sound kind of complicated, but it isn't. It's just like that.

Now, how can we become good on the inside? How can we have good thoughts? How can we have the correct mental attitude? You get it through the new birth experience, when you are given the mind of Christ, and you get the mind of Christ by being a part of him, and you become a part of him as you are born again. And then, beloved, for you to live is Christ, and Christ is love. You know, I think it's the greatest moment in any man's life when he'll just be quiet, be still, not say a word, but just quietly take inventory of himself.

You know, we live in a world that's so filled with turmoil. The very atmosphere is filled with nervous tension. If you don't believe it, just stop and think how many times somebody blew their automobile horn at you on the way to work today.

What was it? Just nervous tension. That's all. Now, just pause right now.

Ask yourself, what kind of person am I? What am I really like? We often ask the question, what is Catherine Kuhlman really like? Have you ever asked yourself, what kind of person am I really like? Father God, we were created in the image and likeness of Almighty God. I pray that through the new birth experience, we may regain that image.