Win or Lose, It's All In Your Mind

The Dalai Lama, today's high priest of Buddhism, wrote a book in the late 1990s entitled, "Transforming the Mind". The theme of training the mind is common in world religions, and we see a similar "training the mind" admonition from Paul in Philippians 4:8-9 - -

8Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

You may have heard it said, "The battle with sin is won or lost in your mind."  This is why, for example, Jesus pointed out that (in this case, the sin of adultery) the battle with sin is first thought/fought in the mind. (Matthew 5:28)

I find it interesting that, in these verses, Paul is referring to making choices which bring our thoughts into obedience to truth ... not to kindness, or patience or long-suffering or compassion....but first, to truth. The battle for holiness, our personal holiness and in our relationships, begins with truth, righteousness, purity, excellence.  It is only after we practice these that we find God's peace.

Pontius Pilate asked, "What is Truth?" (John 18:38)
There's a lot of false, beguiling teaching out in the world.  It runs contrary to the truth of God and His Word.  These may produce a temporary sense of false peace.  However, neither sin, nor error nor deception produce lasting peace.

The Psalmist says, "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he."  (Proverbs 23:7)  This is not an indictment; rather, it is a strong prediction.  There's a popular expression with technology: "garbage in, garbage out". Basically, this means that the computer does not "interpret" your intent.  If you put garbage into it, you will get garbage out of it.

The human mind is similar.  Examples:
If we surround ourselves with profanity, we will soon find our own speech laced with profanity.
If we fill our minds with violent images, we will find our own mind becoming consumed with violent thoughts.
If we hear constantly criticism, we will become critical ourselves.
That is....unless we take conscious steps to counteract those influences.

4The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We tear down arguments, and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5

It takes a deliberate act of will to choose true, righteous and true things with which to fill our minds. This is because we are surrounded in this world by unrighteousness.  Satan uses our environment to send flaming arrows into our thought lives.  We can't stop his attacks, but we can certainly repel them and reject them when they come.  Some have said, "It is not a sin to have an impure thought.  But, it is a sin to embrace it and dwell on it."  There have been times I've said out loud, "I reject that thought, in the name of Jesus."  But, actually, I am not vigilant enough.

After emphasizing that the mind is where the battle begins, Paul then goes on to say essentially, "Now that your thoughts are right, practice what you've been taught."  It is very hard to "live out" righteousness, when the mind is full of unrighteousness.  Accordingly, it is very important that we deliberately fill our minds with things that are true, pure, lovely, excellent and praiseworthy.

Our mothers used to tell us, growing up, "Make good choices!" So true!  And, not only in our actions, but especially in our minds.  Resplendent Daughter blog began as a result of my decision to deliberately choose to spend time in God's Word each day.  It is deliberate decision to fill my mind and spirit with truth. Now, God has taken that act of obedience and transformed it into a ministry.  He is so gracious!

So, what is the specific application of these two verses?
First of all, we must take deliberate steps to feed our minds truth and goodness.  "Nature abhors a vacuum", as the saying goes.  If we don't proactively fill our minds; Satan will fill them for us.  This includes those with whom we choose to surround ourselves.
Second, we must be on guard at all times for Satan's attacks, and fend them off with Scripture as soon as they appear.  We must not allow darkness to "set up camp" in our minds.
Thirdly, we must pray for God's protection over our minds and hearts, that He will give us discernment to recognize attacks of the evil one, when they come, to identify error and deception when it appears and go on the offense until the mind has been cleansed and peace restored.  If you are like me, you struggle with this aspect of the resplendent walk.  We need to ask the Holy Spirit to transform our minds!  He loves to be asked.  May the God of peace be with us!

Father, you desire that our minds and hearts be clean, pure and at peace with You.  This, too, should be our desire.  We are continually beguiled by our fallen natures, which resonate with the wickedness we see in the world.  May we pursue righteousness and truth and goodness, and after finding them, constantly fill our minds and hearts with them, full to overflowing.  Give us Your peace, which follows a right heart toward You.  In Jesus' name, amen.