An Attitude Adjustment

Do you ever think about what goes through your mind?  Do you control your thoughts or do you allow anything free entrance?  Do things invade your mind and take control of your thoughts, if only for very short periods of time?

Your physical brain is in your cranium, which we usually call the skull, the bony part enclosing your gray matter.  Most people would say that your mind is in your brain, meaning the area where thought or reason takes place.  But I'm not too sure that is right.

I will agree that things like math or science may take place there, (still speaking of the brain) which might even include logic as well as the lost art of using common sense which is in short supply now days.

But I'm really thinking about motivation, why you allow certain thoughts into your mind that you are willing to entertain and give attention or consideration to.  So where is this place or area of your mind if it's not in your brain?  It's spoken of in the Word of God as ... the heart of man.  Some prefer to call it your soul.  I have no problem with either descriptive term. 

I believe your soul is where good and evil do battle for the control of your "heart and mind" where the will of man resides.  You see ... the terms heart and mind in scripture are speaking of the same thing.

When scripture speaks of the heart, it is usually the Greek "kardia" (pronounced kar-dee'-ah) which means ... the thoughts and feelings.  Notice, thoughts are of the mind and feelings are from the center of your being, referred to as from the heart.

Whenever the word mind is used, it can be either of two separate Greek words very close in their meanings.  One is "nooce" (pronounced noose) meaning ... the intellect, the mind in thought, feeling or will.

The second word is "dianoia" (pronounced dee-an'-oy-ah) meaning ... deep thought, or disposition.

Would I be correct in saying a man's mental disposition might be controlled by his feelings or will?  If so ... both words, heart and mind are basically the same when speaking about the battle over control of our will.

Okay, then how do we make an attitude adjustment with our thinking?  May I  take a verse or two of scripture out of it's setting?  The Apostle Paul's instruction on this is found in ...

Romans 12:2 ... "Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

Paul says, if you want to transform your thinking, you have to ... renew your mind.  But you say, "I've gotta be me.  I am what I am."

Well, Proverbs 23:7 states ... "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."  This word, heart, is the Hebrew "nephesh" (pronounced neh'-fesh) meaning ... your human vitality, the appetites of the soul.

Is Solomon saying ... that way down in the center core of your being, what I will call your true heart and soul where the fleshly appetites dwell; the nature that only you and God really know about, the man you are when you think nobody can see ... that's the man you really are.

So then, how do we renew our minds; how will this transformation in our thinking come about?

Paul adds this in 2nd Corinthians 10:5 ... "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge  of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."

After you gain control of your thinking by the power of Christ within your heart and mind, follow this following instruction each and every day.

Philippians 4:8 ... "whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

Notice that all the things listed, sound like the principles the heart and mind of God would have dwelling there.  So then ... shouldn't we?

 So what will this kind of thinking do for us?  It gives you control of your spirit and soul, or if you prefer ... the heart and mind.

This is where the battle is fought, in our mind, where the thoughts and imaginations "exalt" themselves over God's will.  Included in this warfare is our fleshly nature and our heart's will ... all doing battle within the soul.  Men everywhere have been given "free will" to choose for themselves.  Because man's soul has "free will" ... it must possess this power of choice.  What you choose is up to you.

Because it is free will,  and your choice alone, it is impossible to force it to choose sin.  Even Satan himself cannot do this; and before he can get it to sin, he must gain its consent.  This is the only reason for the battle within your soul ... to gain control of your "will."

God will not even violate the principle or spiritual law, nor will He allow Satan to take away your "choice" and remove ... "your" ... free will, otherwise it wouldn't be "yours."

What Satan is allowed to do though, is to ... solicit or persuade ... the "will" through the temptation of the flesh until it consents to sin.  The flesh falls first ... the heart and will follows later.  That's why it's important to renew your mind.

Nicholas Herman, a seventeenth century Carmelite monk from French Lorraine who I often quote, spoke of the invasion of thoughts ... well here are his own words. 

"At times a crowd of wandering thoughts would invade my mind and take possession of the place of God; when such happened, I proceeded straightway to expel them and return to my commune with God."

As I said earlier, you don't have to allow certain thoughts into your mind that you willing entertain and give attention or consideration to.  The old monk said ... "I proceeded straightway to expel them."  Get rid of them right away.

To become more like Jesus requires the renewing of your mind.  It's what I call ... "An Attitude Adjustment."




Comments welcome.