by: David Owens
2 Kings 14:25 “…the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet…”
Jonah was a good guy. He was a preacher, a prophet and God spoke through him. But Jonah is better known for his “all expenses paid, three day cruise in a specially prepared fish equipped by God to transport Jonah to where God commanded him to go in the first place.” Jonah was a good guy, but he had a terrible attitude. What is your attitude concerning all that God commands or wants you to do? Teenagers, what is your attitude concerning obeying your parents? Wife, what is your attitude regarding submitting to your husband, or sir, loving your wife? Pastor, what is your attitude when you are viciously attacked? Missionary, what is your attitude when the ministry is hard and you feel all alone? Christian, how do you feel about tithing or being faithful to church when the doors are open? What is your reaction when you are commanded to forgive those who’ve wronged you? What is your attitude when you are confronted with Bible dress standards? How about when the music you like, that appeals to your flesh, is preached against? What is your reaction? What is your attitude?
As I look back at my childhood and teen years, I would have to say that I perfected having a bad attitude. A teacher once (actually more than once) said to me, “You have a bad attitude.” My response was, “Just because you don’t like it doesn’t make it bad.” With God nothing is impossible, but for God to be able to straighten out my attitude had to be next to impossible. Read the story of Jonah; he was a good guy, but he had a very bad attitude. This is sad because life, and more importantly the Christian life, is a whole lot more fun if you have a good attitude!
Watch the progression:
1. A bad attitude will cause you to do the opposite of what you are commanded. Jonah 1:2
Just as Jonah was commanded to arise and go, we also have commands. The Christian life is a life of actions and these actions must be in obedience to God’s Word. Christianity is not a life of beliefs only, but of beliefs that cause us to act. When we think of Jonah and the command to go to Nineveh, we think of missionaries going into all the world. Think about the following: go read your Bible, go pray, go to church, go teach a Sunday School class, go humble yourself, go and do thou likewise, go forgive, go with the right friends, go not with the wicked, go and destroy your ungodly music, go get some modest clothing, go and prepare, go and sin no more, go confess your sins, go love your wife, go submit to your husband, go obey mom and dad, go get a good attitude. Is there really a difference between God saying to Jonah, “Go to Nineveh” and God commanding us to go into all the world or go read your Bible or go and do thou likewise? Just as Jonah went to Tarshish, we often go anywhere else besides where God commands us.
2. A bad attitude will cost you and you won’t even care. Jonah 1:3
God pays the fare for obedience; you pay the fare for disobedience. Do you know why you don’t have time to accomplish what needs to be done in life? Because you must pay when you do things your own way. Perhaps your money is running short because it actually costs more not to tithe than to tithe. God won’t finance your restaurant tab when you should be in church. Jonah paid the fare to Tarshish; God paid the bill to transport Jonah to Nineveh. No, it was not a comfortable ride for Jonah, he traveled in the cargo hold and that was Jonah’s fault, but God did cover the costs. Obey God willingly and you will probably get to pick a more comfortable mode of travel.
3. A bad attitude will put others in harms way. Jonah 1:5
When we disobey we put others in jeopardy. When Jonah disobeyed God, he also put those around him in danger. Our bad attitude will hurt, or at the very least, endanger those close to us. The ones we put in danger are often the ones we love the most. I’ve often wondered if the terrible condition of our nation is not the fault of bad attitude Christians. We want to believe that God is judging America for her sins, but perhaps God is judging the sins of His people and America is suffering for it. If you want to destroy your marriage, your children, those you love, your church and your testimony, then go do your own thing and go your own direction.
4. A person with a bad attitude will lose the respect of others. Jonah 1:9-10
People really don’t like following people with bad attitudes. You will eventually lose whatever respect others had for you. The world sees our attitude, our family sees our attitude, and even other Christians see our attitude. I’m reminded of the times when church members have gone home and complained to an unsaved family member about someone or something at church. One day this church member tries to invite this same family member to church, gets rejected and then wonders why.
5. When we have a bad attitude, it takes a crisis to get our attention. Jonah 2:1-10
It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get the attention of a person with a bad attitude. Sometimes, even a crisis cannot get our attention. A bad attitude is a self-centered and self-destructive attitude. When I am focused only on myself, I have trouble noticing what is going on around me. I cannot see the needs, the hurts or even the affect that my attitude is having on others. Because of my bad attitude, I cannot see that I am closed to any solution for others problems and even for my own problems.
6. A person can obey with a bad attitude. Jonah 3:1-10
One with a bad attitude can be forced to go through the motions of obedience, if there is no other way out, but only to make life easier for them. So, you obey because you feel threatened, but you only obey to get relief. With a bad attitude, we will go through the motions just to get what we want. We will give in only if it means getting our own way, but the bad attitude will soon return. A bad attitude will cause you to tithe only if you have financial problems. A bad attitude will cause you to be faithful or obey only because you want something from God.
7. A bad attitude has a difficult time rejoicing over spiritual victories. Jonah 4:1-11
Instead of being overjoyed with spiritual results you have a ho-hum, selfish attitude. Bad attitude Christians are more concerned with their own comfort than even the miracles of God. With a bad attitude you will get to church late, not open the hymn book, doze off during the preaching, be bored during the invitation and impatient even when someone is getting saved or obeying the Lord in baptism. A bad attitude will cause you to complain if the air conditioning doesn’t work or works too good, you will gripe that the preaching is too loud or too long. Nothing can please one with a bad attitude.
Christian, you control your own attitude. A good attitude makes life enjoyable, a bad one can be spotted in your reaction to God’s commands. God says, “Go, obey me,” but our response is, “I’ll go to Tarshish, the mall, to bed, to work, to relatives, to my easy chair, I’ll go and play with the kids, spend time with my family, I can’t, I’m hungry, I have a headache, I’ll go another time, I already do enough, I can do it on my own, etc.”
We are not saying you are a bad person, but do you have a bad attitude? If you do it’s not fun, is it?
David Owens
Pastor
Westside Baptist Church
Pacifica, CA