The Mind

Our wills control our minds. At times, thoughts pop into our heads seemingly from out of nowhere and from outside of our control. Yet what we mentally dwell on requires personal volitional consent. In other words, we have the ability to focus our minds on what we will.  So, where do our thoughts come from? Sometimes they are developed purposely at the direction of our will and sometimes they originate without invitation placed by our fleshly state or God himself or even Satan. We therefore do not have power to prevent thoughts from initiating within our minds, but we do have the power (with the help of the Spirit} to control whether those thoughts persist. God tells us to "take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5) and to "set our minds on things above, not on earthly things" (Colossians 3:2). John Owen (The Glory of Christ) says that we become transformed into what we think about and so, when we think continually about the things of the world, we become transformed into the image of the world "becoming earthly, carnal and vain"  (Pg. 77, 2008 edition). Contrast this with the idea of beholding the glory of the Lord and "being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another" (2 Corinthian 3:18). It appears we are transformed into the image of that upon which we meditate. Thoughts can be divided into three major categories: first, thoughts about God and his glory and his kingdom; second, thoughts that are worldly but not overtly sinful, such as regarding plans for the next day of work; and third, sinful thoughts, such as lustful contemplations, covetous ideas etc. The first category is obviously good and beneficial, and the last is obviously wrong.  The second category however is the most convicting to think about for me. The reason is that the majority of my time is spent in thinking about the things of this world that are not necessarily sinful, but that are not prosperous from a spiritual standpoint. Some examples of this would be surfing the internet news for an hour or watching American Idol.  These mental activities can draw us toward a worldly state and away from God insidiously, without us even recognizing it. We must remember the scripture says "to throw off all that hinders AND the sin that so easily entangles..." (Hebrews 12:1 NIV).  All that hinders is anything that draws us to the world and away from God.  So let us practice the presence of God, thinking about him, speaking with him all the day long. Let our idle time be set on him mentally to his glory.