Set Your Mind

The leader of spin class said, “If you have any negative thoughts today, I want you to release them now.”

My first thought was, “It’s 8 o’clock in the morning and I’ve only been up for two hours but I do have negative thoughts already.”

My second thought was, “Wow, negative thoughts and feelings kind of creep up on a person.

My third thought was, “I need to be in the habit of releasing those negative thoughts constantly but how? If they creep up, how do I stop them?  It would be good to have a plan in place for this. I’m sure the Bible has directives for this. In fact, I can already think of some ‘set you mind’ verses in the Bible. This would even be a great blog journal entry. I could start writing it in my head now.”

My fourth thought was, “I’d better study this after class because I just missed the exercise instructions.”

So, after class, I set my mind on how to set my mind.

Colossians 3:1-3 has an if/then command:

 If you have been raised up from sin and death like Christ.  And if you believe in His resurrection. And if you understand that He is at the right hand of God in Heaven. Then have the understanding that you are to set your mind on heavenly things and not on earthly things.

   

OK, got it. I don’t let earthly cares and negativity supersede heavenly thoughts and directives. To do this, I need to consistently set my mind and be in control of my thoughts. But how do I put it into action? This consistently and constantly aspect is hard to maintain. Oh, but isn’t that why Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God? Doesn’t He maintain our salvation? Doesn’t He maintain our life in Him? Can’t He maintain our spiritual growth? And doesn’t that include being more like Him and thinking more like Him? Well, of course He can and of course He does.

 The main thing I need to do (as the spin instructor said) is to release the thoughts - to Jesus. I need to empty or pour them out to Him. Now what do I replace in the empty space?

Paul said in Philippians 4:8-9 “Now brothers and sisters in Christ think on these things:”

1.     all the things that are true

2.     all the things that  inspire you to be more like Christ

3.     all the things that are absolutely correct

4.     all the things that are worshipful

5.     all the things worth loving

6.     all the things that will cause you to be kind

7.     all the things that will cause you to act graciously

8.     all the things that will cause you to praise and thank God

Now that should be enough options to fill my mind and override the other junk that shouldn’t be there.                            

Get ready. Get set in your mind. Go!