“For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,” Romans 8:5-6
In the greek, the verb for “set their minds” in this verse means “to think, to give careful consideration to, careful thought, to think about someone”.
What are you obsessed with? That which permeates the mind and the thought life is our obsession. With all this talk in the world of sex, Obama, healthcare, the news, football games, television shows, movies, facebook, twitter, the internet, cars, food, etc. let me give you a stark and sobering thought to ponder today. If you spend more time thinking about these things than God it is a dangerous warning sign that may signal your not being a true Christian. You may fool yourself in thinking you are but remember that it is impossible to serve both God and mammon. There is no middle ground. What (or who) are you truly in love with? Either we are completely sold out to God or not – and as Scripture clearly teaches that one way to know is evidenced by our thought life. (Rom. 8:5-6)
Inventory your thought life just since you got up this morning. Have you thought more about something other than God? What is your thought life consumed with? Is it consumed with your job, your spouse, your children or maybe even your ministry? You see, even if your mind if consumed with good or harmless things if the absolute focus and majority of your thought life is not God in Christ then you need to examine yourself! Having high thoughts of God surely does not save us but a change in our thinking is a direct result of salvation.
Do you make time in your mind for Christ only on the Lord’s Day and then the other six days consume your thoughts on things of the earth and not things in heaven? (Col. 3:2) Do you live your life as a practical atheist claiming to know God but living your life as if He did not exist? What do you think of most? It is a humbling and sobering thing to survey our thought life – which amounts to that which we love – and see where the Creator of all things stacks up?
I believe that this is exactly what the church in Ephesus dealt with in Revelation. You see, this church talked the talk and in a sense walked a walk in their deep, orthodox theology but they had lost their first love. They had lost their love and zeal for Christ. (Rev. 2:4) They thought much on heresies, debates and even their ministries but there was no room left in their thought life and in their minds for Christ. They had quite frankly let Christ get out of their minds. Christ warned them to repent and if they did not repent it would be evidence that they had permanently taken Christ out of their minds because He truly was never there to begin with! (Rev. 2:5)
I write these things not to try and scare the reader but to bring attention to what the full counsel of God’s word tells us. True salvation results not only in the penalty for our sins being paid for but also the regeneration of the dead soul to one that is spiritual alive and one that will yearn for Christ. The regenerated person is one who hates what he once loved and now loves what he once hated. It is a sad reminder of the state of the church today when the majority of professing believers talk and think more about worldly things than they do Christ. Not long ago Christian fellowship was getting together to talk about Christ and the things of Christ, but sadly today Christian fellowship amounts to getting together to watch a football game or go whitewater rafting. Don’t get me wrong – there is nothing wrong with coming together for fun but true, biblical fellowship is coming together to rejoice in and talk about the greatest thing on our mind – Christ! Who (or what) are you in love with? Our minds and thought life are the barometer for knowing for sure! Let us remember that Christ should be in our minds constantly and every thought made captive to Christ. (2 Cor. 10:5) Recall too that Scripture tells us to “be transformed by the renewing of our minds.” (Romans 12:2) It is a call to remember that as a believer our minds have been renewed through regeneration and we are to tend to it by guarding our thought life and implanting the word of God in the mind. This is truly a “magnificent obsession”!
Phil. 4:8 ”Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”
Soli Deo Gloria!
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Jay,
That was a Beautiful post that GOD meant for me to read. This is a battle I deal with every day. Satan works hard to keep our toughts on the things of the world and not on Christ. Pray for me as I pray for you and Angie. We live in perilous times and must keep our thoughts on our Saviour.
Tony
Hi Tony,
Yes, it was convicting to write. I definitely am preaching to myself when I write these articles! Thanks be to God though for the grace He gives us and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit so that our eyes and minds are opened to His glory and He truly is irresistible. As Paul writes to us, “keep your minds on things above and not on things of the earth.” (Col. 3:2)
Hope you are well and thanks so much for posting on the blog!
Soli Deo Gloria!
Jay,
Your article is going to speak to more souls than you could have ever imagined, and the words that you have printed were directed by our precious Lord. The article is so timely because we, indeed, are living in perilous times, and Satan is using many things to keep our minds distracted and off of Christ…..it was a real wake-up call for me personally…thank you my brother for sharing this devotional this morning and helping me to get my focus back on our precious Saviour!!!
Larry
Larry,
You are most welcomed and like I said in my other comment – this is preaching to myself my friend! Our thought life is so important to God and tells much about our true relationship with the living God. The thought life and the lusts of the flesh wage war against the soul (1 Pet. 2:11). Let us also remember that our inner thoughts of the mind are not hidden or secret to the omniscient God. Let us humbly recall how John sees Christ in Revelation1:14 – with eyes of flaming fire able to pierce into the darkest recesses of our souls and minds. This will either cause great fear or it will cause us to run to Christ and rejoice with trembling at the cross of Jesus Christ – knowing we are forgiven and counted righteous through Him.
I believe the American church has greatly lost its focus on the gospel and no longer teaches or believes that salvation involves all of man – his soul, heart and mind. God not only saves us from the penalty of sin at the cross but also the power of sin through a transformation of everything that we are – including our mind. This by no means teaches that we are sinless – far from it. But Scripture does clearly teach that through regeneration we are no longer slaves to sin – we are now in Christ as slaves to righteousness. The things we once loved we now hate and the things we once hated we now love. Sadly, we see the majority of professing Christians thinking, acting and participating right with the world and looking far from lights to the world.
Soli Deo Gloria!
We read in Mark 12v30 Jesus saying “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. This is the first commandment.”
That was the first commandment, and I don’t believe it is now obsolete.
Yes, my mind does need cleansing. Were I to spend more time in the Word and less in the world, how much richer in Christ I would be.
Thank you for the article.
Very true Dora,
As a nation that is so blessed to be able to have access to God’s word freely and pretty much anywhere we unfortunately tend to be the most illiterate when it comes to knowing God’s Word. The way we know God – the true God – is to know Him through His word and through the Word that became flesh – Jesus Christ. Thanks be to the Holy Spirit who teaches us and counsels us and brings spiritual truth to light through the word!
Soli Deo Gloria!