Your God-given mind has the capacity to take you to a whole new world. In one moment, you can be engaged in connected conversation with God, with yourself, or with people. In the next moment, your mind can be half-way around the world because of someone or something that you care about. Your mind can be composing your next song. Planning your to-do list. Problem-solving to fix or to improve what’s not working. Imagining a better tomorrow. Stuck in the past. Worrying about the future. Or your mind can be filled with gratitude to God and for all of the people that He’s brought into your life. Your mind can be creating a better world, or it can be fixated on things that destroy your world and the world of those around you. Your mind can be creating what’s missing and needed, or it can destroy what it has. Your mind can be consumed with only what you want, or it can be engaged in helping others get what they need.
Who or what controls your mind? Go ahead and STOP and REFLECT on your thought-life today, and you will find the answer. (Take your time to reflect) Who or what controls your mind? People? Pain & Problems? Prayers? Past or Present? Potential? Persecution? Protection? Pleasures? Performance, Promotions, Position, & Power? Praise? After some serious reflection, what did you discover is controlling your mind? You may think that you found the “P” that has been dictating your existence, but I think you already know the answer. Whatever you feed your mind will determine what your life is producing. A mindscape of praise, prayer, and gratitude. A messy life filled with people who need Jesus, along with a truckload of character-building lessons. A schedule packed full of activities that consume your every waking moment and deplete you of all margins to stop, reflect, and enjoy God and the people in your family and neighborhood. Boundaries that protect what’s sacred so that God can grow what He’s designed you to become, or chaos because you let everything and everyone dictate your life.
Only after we’ve repeatedly laid down our bodies (the temple of the Lord) will God transform and renew our thinking. Only when Jesus becomes our first thought—instead of our last thought—will we develop more of the mind of Christ. God’s Word will only become our words if our thoughts become repeatedly etched by His Words. If we’re too busy to listen, to linger, and to love Jesus as He re-writes our mental scripts, then we’re probably writing our own scripts or letting someone else control our mind and life.
Over the years, I’ve realized that God has made our minds to have the capacity to be mentally transported to places we’ve never been. When I read my Bible each day, God mentally transports me to find my place in the stories and teachings of Scripture. As the Holy Spirit engages me with Scripture, I experience conviction, inspiration, and transformation because my mind and heart are engaged with the characters and issues I’m reading about.
In my Bible-reading today, God catapulted me into the world of Cornelius, a captain of the Italian Regiment. Before long, I was wondering how much I’m like Cornelius. Am I a devout man who fears God? Do my family members and I fear and serve the Lord? Do I give generously to those in need? Do I regularly pray to God? I wonder if I’ve ever entertained angels and received God-ordained visions to go and do what’s only for me to do. Next, I’m up on the rooftop with Peter prayerfully envisioning all that I have judged to be “impure” as God is grounding me with Peter’s power-packed words. “God has shown me that I should never think of anyone as impure.” Now if Peter got the same message three times with animals, reptiles, and birds dumped on him out of heaven, then maybe there’s a message in all of this for me. “If God says something is acceptable, don’t say it isn’t.” (Acts chapter 10)
As God was calling Cornelius, who was realizing that God had heard his prayers and had seen all of the gifts that he’d given to the poor, and as Peter was realizing that home-based Gentile ministry leads to Holy Spirit outpouring, I realized that I have some not-so-easy questions to answer. Who is not coming to Jesus because I’ve snubbed them as “forbidden people” and don’t go into their homes or invite them into my home for meals? How has my “Head World” hindered the work of God’s Spirit in my own life and in the lives of others? What is God calling me to change in my thinking and my life that has prevented me from loving everyone always?
As the Holy Spirit has been convicting me, I’ve been to Joppa and back. I’ve been on rooftops praying. I’ve had imaginary conversations with all sorts of people in places that I haven’t even gone yet because I’ve lacked the faith and courage to do so. I think it’s time to stop thinking and visioning and just do what God wants me to do each day. As my newest favorite author Bob Goff wrote, “What a shame it would be if we were waiting for God to say something while He’s waiting for us to do something. He speaks to me the loudest on the way. Simply put, if we want more faith, we need to do more stuff.” (Everybody Always)
Your mind is a beautiful bridge to what God is calling you to do. He’s not called you to do what He’s made someone else to do. He’s not created a mental obstacle course with seventeen other options. He’s called you to do one thing well with His Holy Spirit empowerment with His people that He’s personally placed around you. As you build the bridge together, you get to discover and enjoy all of the fruit that God will bear in and through your submitted life. Let’s do some bridge-building together so that others can find Jesus!