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.