What is the meaning of Disposition?
Definition of disposition
(n) Bing Dictionary
dis·po·si·tion
[ dìspə zísh'n ]
- personality: somebody's usual mood or temperament
- behavioral tendency: an inclination or tendency
to act in a particular way
- settlement: settlement of a business or legal
matter
Synonyms: nature, character, temperament, temper, outlook, mood, personality
[dis·po·si·tion
noun
1.
the predominant or prevailing tendency of one's
spirits; natural mental and emotional outlook or mood; characteristic attitude:
a
girl with a pleasant disposition.
2.
state of mind regarding something; inclination: a
disposition to gamble.
3.
physical inclination or tendency: the
disposition of ice to melt when heated.
4.
arrangement or placing, as of troops or buildings.
5.
final settlement of a matter] 1
Here are the two men who went to pray and both of them were at the same public place and time addressing themselves. The Pharisee went up to pray because it was a place where many would know that he is praying and many would applaud his devotion. The publican went up to pray because it was appointed to be a house of prayer for all people; Isa 56: 7.
9 Also He
spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous,
and despised others: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to
pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give
tithes of all that I possess.’ 13 And the tax collector, standing
afar off, would not so much as raise his
eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to
his house justified rather than
the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles
himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14; NKJV.
We are used to thinking that Pharisees as
self-righteous hypocrites but in the first century they were viewed as models
of religious devotions and prayer and teachers of law who gets everything
right. Tax collectors on the other hand are viewed as one who works for the
Roman government while they conquered Palestine
It is even more surprising to note that Pharisees gave
to the poor even more than what was required and even fasted more than what the
law required. It is surprising and worth noting that the law required a tithe
on what people earned but the Pharisees tithed from all they acquired! Climax
of the story was that the tax collector went home justified after his prayer
and not the Pharisee. Wow! What is the
real story and the real lesson here? Here we notice that the tax collector
unlike the Pharisee seeks to rely on God’s mercy and favour rather than on his
own self-righteousness.
The Pharisee was free from scandalous sins, but he
was thinking a lot about himself and his own praise and not God’s glory. His
prayer makes it very obvious that he said many good things about himself and
bragged and boasted! It is very obvious that he made God his debtor and might
demand anything from him and despise the others. He never thought about God,
and not even about the mercy and the grace he needed from God. The publican’s
address to God was the reverse of the Pharisee and was full of humility, full
of repentance of sin and desire towards God. This parable makes it very clear
that with what attitude we pray and the disposition of our hearts are huge to
our Heavenly Father. God’s glory works just opposite to man’s glory and God
resists the proud but give grace to the humble.
Somewhere
in the middle of the crossfire lies the
heart and attitude of our heart for true prayer. In other words our prayer
does not necessarily change our situation, but changes us or at least our perspective
and our disposition of our heart. God is least bothered about our positions or
wealth or the respect we hold in our society and when we pray he is more
concerned about the disposition of our hearts! God’s ultimate goal is to bring
glory and honour to Himself through the changed hearts of people. Effectual prayer is led by the Spirit of God, and
the key is to remain sensitive to God’s Spirit when He often does a cleansing
work in our life.
As we continue to draw nearer to God we can share
with Him our desires to grow in purity, seeking forgiveness of sin and especially from selfishness. We see from
the above story that the Pharisee was full of self in spite of his good deeds and respect he had in the
community. Whereas the tax collector was broken, would not even lift up his
eyes to heaven, beat up his chest and asked God to forgive him and have mercy
on him, because he realized he was a sinner and was standing in need of God’s
mercy.
Time and again we are reinforced that we are human and we are limited
in our ability and we are forced to look up! Pride, lust, self, an unsaved
spouse, broken relationships, and our pharisaical attitudes are all examples of
mountains in the lives of ordinary people which could hinder our prayer lives.
Some mountains are self-inflicted and some are inflicted upon us. No matter
what we face, mountains or mole hills, they can not be overcome without the
intervention of a Loving Heavenly Father who alone has the ability to scale the
unscalable! Then, how do we touch the heart of God when we pray?
Living Before God Our Father
13 Therefore
gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at
the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as
obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He
who called you is holy, you
also be holy in all your
conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”[a] 1 Peter
1:13-16 New King James Version (NKJV)
Preparing your mind simply means “gird up the loins of your mind” which is pulling up our thoughts together. As I have mentioned in my previous blogs, heart and mind has a tremendous connection and it is very important they are united and the prayer has to come from the heart. We can imagine a man ready for war dressed up, and ready to run and when we center our thoughts on the return of Christ, and by trying to live accordingly we can escape many worldly thought patterns. Our thought life has a tremendous impact in our prayer life and we all have to work on it. The worldly things definitely have a negative impact on our mind and this could hinder the progress of spiritual growth and hence our prayer life.
We can ask God to search our hearts and weed out areas which may need His attention and He would help us. Possible good works, righteous acts, any charitable contributions including mission work which we perform with good intention which could bring glory and honour to self than to God are worth thinking about. If it does not bring glory and honour to God, it is equivalent to filthy rags; “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away”; Isa: 64:6. We may pray and ask that we desire to be the recipient of God’s grace rather than an object of His resistance. As we continue to humble our selves under His mighty hand, we may ask His perspectives of us so that we learn to see ourselves as we really are. God does sees with what disposition and design we come and wait upon Him.
Questions for thought:
1. Think of all the possible ways we can prepare ourselves for effective prayer.
2. Do we feel we are self-controlled when it comes to our “thought life?”
3. Our thought lives are very important and how can we be pleasing to God in our thought life which could affect our disposition of our heart when we pray?
4. Are our prayers like recanting few words like mantra as in other world religions? OR is it Spirit led from our hearts in our brokenness?
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References:
noun 1. the predominant or prevailing tendency of one's spirits; natural
mental and emotional outlook or mood; characteristic attitude: a girl with a
pleasant ...
Bibliography:
1. Millard J. Erickson. Christian Theology. Grand Rapids
2. R.T. Kendall. Understanding Theology, Developing a Healthy
Church in the 21st Century, 1996, p. 357-364.
3. Jay E. Adams. A
Theology of Christian Counseling, More than Redemption. Grand Rapids
4. Louis Berkhof. Systematic
Theology. Grand Rapids
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Handbook of Evangelical Theology, Historical, Biblical, and Contemporary Survey
and Review. Grand
Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1986, p.527-544.
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Basic Theology. Chicago
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Prayers To Move Your Mountains. Nashville
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The Matthew Henry Study Bible. King James Version. Iowa falls: World Bible
Publishers, Inc.
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