Theme Verse
The man answered, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
A Divided Mind
When I think of what it means to have a dividd mind a verse comes to mind out of Philippians.
8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.
We are told here what it looks like to love God with all of our mind- to fix our minds on these things. “To fix ” means to be Hyper focused. It’s a determination to not let the negative creep in. It’s when we let the negative creep in that we have a divided mind. THIS IS A BATTLE WE ALL MUST FIGHT!
Everyday
Everyday I (and you) have to fight to keep our minds free of:
- lies
- dishonorable- crooked and deplorable thoughts
- wrong- unjust thoughts
- impure or adulterated thoughts
- ugly thoughts
- deplorable or abominable thoughts
- poor quality or inferior thoughts
- thoughts unworthy of praise
But what are they?
The short answer …ANYTHING THAT GOES AGAINST GOD’S WORD!
We put lots of garbage into our minds. The principle of Garbage in, Garbage out is a biblical principle, it is also the same principle of “your reap what you sow” (Galatians 6:7-8) NLT TV, music, movies,, books,YouTube videos, The NEWS, Toxic people. Shallowing I keep going?
A not so funny example
Our kids like to watch funny animal videos on instagram reels- they don’t watch them on their own but I will screen /scroll past the ones with bad or inappropriate words/Content in them….BUT every once in a while one will slip through.
One song in particular is super catchy. And after only hearing it twice I noticed the kids and I were singing it. Leaving out the taboo word in this house but I knew it was going to end up as an example of our quickly our minds can get compromised.
The video is usually about an animal, hooman- if you know you know (child or adult) with a poorly thought out plan…ending in hysterical laughter BUT what I discovered is the song (an ear worm) is almost instantly embedded in your mind.
What we did- we just stopped watching the reels. Because it just creeps up. I got pretty good at only hearing the first word and scrolling past but then the kids would finish the song.
Another personal example
I love mysteries and true crime stories. BUT something happens to my brain. Fear creeps in and the what-ifs start to happen. The events of these stories are not lovely, are not admirable and do not example excellence. They pretty much define all the antithesis of Philippians 4:8-9.
The Biggest Lie Christians tell themselves
I’m gonna be really unpopular for this AND THAT’S OK.
“BUT I am mature enough in my faith to handle….X, Y, and Z.”
NOPE- If you are willingly letting things against God’s word into your mind you have a divided mind. You aren’t loving God with all of it. I’m not, You’re not.
God’s word is very clear about thinking on pure and right things. And by saying that we are mature in our faith to handle whatever it is…we are buying a lie and that is the first thing we are commanded to think on….Whatever is true. We are to put into our minds what is honoring to God. That build us up. Encourage us in our faith. Not make us compromise it.
We are all guilty
Have you gathered that each one of these areas is a point of battle? We need to “fight” for these areas of our lives.
EVERY. SINGLE BELIEVER. We are called to prepare for these battles….
Ephesians 6:11-18 (NLT)
11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.12 For we[a] are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. 14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness.15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.[b] 16 In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.[c] 17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.[d]
The Pieces of Armor
- Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth
- the body armor (breastplate) of God’s righteousness
- For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared
- In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.
- Put on salvation as your helmet,
- take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
We fight lots of battles thrown at us, we don’t need to add our own battles. Taking garbage into our minds make us numb to the truth that should be defining our lives- that opens a world of compromise.
Let’s choose to live differently
I don’t want to be defined by numbness to things that go againstGod’s word. I want my heart to feel sadness when confronted with sin. I don’t want to just dismiss it- and I don’t want to be controlled by it, either in my heart, soul or mind.
Tomorrow We will deal with divided Strength- aka where are you placing your energy?
I hope you can join me here tomorrow!
Want to learn more?
A book that has really helped me in the battle for my mind is “Loving God with all of your Mind” by Elizabeth George (Not an affiliate link)
Thanks so much
I am so very glad that you joined me today! Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and if you are new here please introduce yourself in the comments below.
You can check out the other posts in the choosing Courage -100 day Blogging Project here..
