By Titto Thomas 

Philippians 2:5 “Have the same attitude among yourselves that was also in Christ Jesus” 

This phrase “Have the same attitude” primarily denotes a state of mind. Some translations put it as “ let this mind”. But let us focus on this word attitude. I recently discovered a wonderful analogy to help understand this word.

The word “Attitude” is commonly used in aerospace and there it simply means “Pointing in the right direction”. I think the most critical is during landing, wherein to be of the wrong attitude when you are approaching the runway means this- while the nose of the plane is pointed towards the runway, the tail is not! 

Basically when the pilot is looking out of the cockpit, he can see the runway straight ahead but there is a high possibility that the tail is pointed in some other direction. The result…The flight could offshoot the runway or maybe even land sideways. 

Now let’s compare that picture in our Christian life…while your mind maybe pointed at the runway, your heart could be offset. There are so many practical issues where we need the right attitude. Now what is the right attitude, it is the attitude of Jesus Christ! We need to see our need for having the right attitude towards issues like faith, relations, work/study, money, church…etc. We need to even have the proper attitude towards the Word! 

I was at a camp last month and an elder in our church called all ‘us youth’ for a group discussion on ‘work’. Before I started to work I had searched scriptures on what it says about work but I was surprised by what I heard. I had a lot of repenting to do afterwards! One of the most important ways in which we can have the right attitude is to study it properly. I encourage you to spend time alone and with friends studying, discussing and sharing on what the bible talks about day to day things you handle. For eg. Time, money, relations, work/study etc.  

We can’t afford to have a torn garment knowledge about the word and what it has to say about practical things in life. Our hearts, minds and body need the proper orientation and what better way THAN THE WORD!!