Mind Control
Devotions for Growing Christians
Mind Control
Romans 12:2 ...be transformed by the renewing of your mind...
2 Corinthians 10:5 ...we take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ ...
Philippians 2:3 ...with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself...
Philippians 4:8 ...if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, let your mind dwell on these things...
1 Peter 1:13 ...gird up your minds for action...
The title, "Mind Control," is not talking about political brainwashing or hypnotic trances. It means that all growing Christians are responsible to control their thinking.
The Bible says that our thought life is an extremely important and vital aspect of being a Christian. What we are is determined largely by what and how we think. Proverbs 23:7 says, "As a person thinks within himself, so he is." The Bible teaches the responsibility of mind control. It also gives us definite guidelines to follow, so that our thought life will be controlled and pleasing to God. Let us look at a few of the many biblical passages dealing with mind control.
Change Perspectives
Romans 12:2 commands us to change our perspectives. We are not to be conformed to this world's way of thinking, but to be transformed to God's way of thinking. It’s important to understand that "the world" is not just a label for “worldly” trash or a list of taboos. “The world" is basically a system of values that is contrary to the biblical set of values. Our thought patterns must be brought under the control of the divine value system.
The world says that if you want to be great, get to the top any way you can. Go for it! Be Number One! But God says that to be truly great is to "serve one another" (Matthew 20:25-28). Are we conformed to the world's system of values - or transformed to God's set of values? Do we serve one another - or do we manipulate one another? What’s our real motive for wanting a leadership position? See how easy it is for Christians to operate on the basis of worldly standards rather than biblical standards? We may not have a problem with alcohol or drugs, but our minds are worldly if we’re trying to be great by any way other than serving one another!
That’s just one example that points up how different the world's value system is from God's value system. Look at some other biblical values in Matthew 6:32-33 and Luke 6:38, and see they differ from the value system of the world. We must constantly evaluate our motives and judgments and persuasions, because Satan is a master at deceiving us.
Romans 12:2 also tells us that continually renewing our minds is the only way to be transformed from conformity to the world's value system. Renewal of our thinking involves a steady diet of the Word of God. A constant intake and “digestion” of biblical standards will renew and control our minds. Our thinking, and thus our actions, will no longer be conformed and controlled by the values and culture of the world, but will increasingly line up with the values and will of God: "the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Capture Preoccupations
Another principle of mind control is to capture preoccupations. We are to make every thought an obedient captive to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). Immoral thoughts and selfish thoughts must be brought under control, just like enemy captives in time of war. Notice that spiritual warfare is the context of 2 Corinthians 10:3-5. Of course it’s almost impossible for us to keep sinful thoughts from passing through our minds, but we can stop being preoccupied with sinful thoughts. As Martin Luther said many years ago, "You cannot keep the birds of the air from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building nests in your hair!"
We can stop fantasizing. We can stop watching the kind of movies and TV shows that will pollute our minds. We can avoid internet sites that pander to sinful behaviors. In short, we can prevent our minds from being preoccupied with thoughts that are not honoring to the Lord Jesus. We can control a lot of what goes into our minds - and we can certainly control the preoccupations of our minds. Let’s not allow any harmful thoughts to begin to take control of our thought life.
Checking Pride
A humble mind is also an important part of mind control. It’s a lot easier to talk about checking pride than actually doing it. But Philippians 2:2-4 gives us some guidelines on how to obtain humility of mind. Verse 3 gives us some very practical advice on how to start the pride-checking process. Never think of yourself as better or greater than others in your fellowship - even if you're smarter or richer or older or nicer-looking - or whatever. In fact, always consider others as more important than yourself! Although God created all men equal, God still tells us that the key to mind control in the area of pride is always to think of the other person as more important than "ME.”
Remember that these verses were addressed historically to believers. Certainly some of the Christians in the church at Philippi were more gifted than others, and some were carrying more of the workload than others, and some were more spiritually mature than others. And yet God's directive in that situation was for everyone to regard every other fellow-believer as a more important person!
You can be sure that if we were to follow this way of thinking, the problem of pride would be checked, and our minds would be more controlled. A proud Christian may look like he or she has it all together, but unchecked pride always ripples out to hurt other people. Pride is a sure sign of a mind out of control before God.
Conquer Prejudice
We must also conquer prejudice towards others in our program of mind control. This responsibility emerges from Philippians 4:8, when it’s seen against the background of the entire letter. One of the reasons for this letter was a division that was occurring in the Philippian fellowship. It seems it was not a major doctrinal disagreement, or the apostle would have addressed it directly! Apparently it was a minor matter on which the church could not agree - maybe a financial decision? In any case, the friction was causing personal rivalries and bad feelings among the believers. Sadly, two Christian women who had actively served with Paul were particularly involved in the problem (4:2-3). Paul knew very well that molehills can become mountains, so throughout the epistle he urged the Philippians to show unselfish love to one another. Look, for example, at the context of self-sacrifice in Philippians 2:1-11 - that beautiful Christological passage!
In Philippians 4 the exhortation toward unity continues. The Philippian Christians were to work at forbearance (self-restraint when provoked) with all the members of the fellowship (4:5). They were not to get uptight about present circumstances - even when things weren’t going their way (4:6). Peace of mind and heart through prayer (and not through manipulative persuasion of others!) was the way to go (4:6-7).
A final "suggestion" is given to the Philippians to help them along the road to greater unity: they should think positively about one another (v8)! And so should we! Let’s not fix our thoughts on the faults of fellow-believers - but on their good points! Let’s focus on whatever is noble and honorable about the brother who’s always complaining. There must be something true and right about him! Let’s think about whatever is pure and lovable in the sister who spreads rumors. She must have some admirable quality! If there is even the faintest glimmer of excellence, or the smallest item worthy of praise, then let our minds dwell on those positive things.
Every believer has weaknesses as well as strengths - even you and me! But if we make a definite effort not to focus on the negatives of the person, but rather to think about the strengths, we’ll find that we’re able to conquer our prejudices about our fellow-believers. Try drawing up a list of positives for every person who’s bugging you, and see how this results in greater control of your thoughts about other people. This type of mind control brings not only peace to your fellowship - it brings the presence of God to your soul (4:7). Conquering our prejudices pleases the God of peace (4:9).
Cultivate Priorities
A further principle of mind control is seen in 1 Peter 1:13: cultivate priorities. “Gird up your minds for action” means to be disciplined in our thinking. This expression comes from Bible days, when the people gathered up (girded up) their long garments for unimpeded work or activity. Too many side interests can impede and interfere with our priorities as growing Christians. In view of our great salvation (1:3-12), we should therefore discipline our minds to set our priorities properly.
How much time do we waste thinking about things that are not going to matter 100 years from now? Or one year - or even a month from now?! Why not control our minds to think more about eternal realities, as this verse commands us? This verse doesn’t mean that we can never to think about styles or sales or superbowls or the stock market - or other temporal things, but rather that we need to cultivate the habit of thinking more about what really matters.
Maybe we could start by cultivating the priority of spending some time alone with the Lord every day - reading His Word and communicating Him in prayer. It’s not easy to maintain the habit of regular time with God, but disciplined control of our minds with God’s Word is of primary importance. It leads to practicing all the other principles of mind control!
Remember - your mind matters! Keep it in control!
- Dave Reid