The Mind, Life, and Peace
In our world, a lot of attention is given to strength and power. Beautifully sculptured bodies with big muscles fill the covers of magazines, advertisements, and social media posts. We have competitions for arm wrestling, fighting, boxing, and weightlifting, and we celebrate those who are the strongest among us.
Yet, while strong muscles and sculptured bodies get a lot of attention in our world, there is a three-pound organ within all of us that is far more powerful than the strongest of the strong. That three-pound organ is our brain.
The mind is powerful because what we fix our thoughts on leads us to experience life or death.
6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.
(Romans 8:6)
THE MIND SET ON THE FLESH IS DEATH
The flesh is a reference to self. It means to operate independently of God; to follow our own desires, wants, or truth. Often times those things are also influenced by what we see out in the world, which is ruled by Satan.
When our thoughts are set on the flesh, what we experience is death. Not physical death, although poor choices influenced by a mind set on the flesh, could certainly lead to physical death. However, what we most often experience is a lack of real life.
Our mind leads us to believe that life is found through sin, but what we find out is that sin leads us to experience guilt, shame, hurt, and pain in our lives. It may have given us a short feeling of life, but it is a counterfeit life. It’s not the real thing.
The mind set on the flesh could also look like us feeding on worries, doubts, anxiety, fear, and a scarcity mindset.
I am an Enneagram six (out of 9 personality types based on a personality profile test). Sixes have a flesh pattern of self-doubt. We get insecure about things, and we focus and analyze all of the worst-case scenarios.
When my mind is set on fear, worry, and doubts, I begin to crumble. I get lost in an internal darkness that feeds my need to try and control things. I get anxious. I feel scared. I get stuck. There is no life, just death.
The mind is incredibly powerful. Simply focusing our thoughts on the wrong things can lead to so much struggle and pain that can paralyze us or cause us to lash out at the people we love.
The mind set on the flesh is death.
THE MIND SET ON THE SPIRIT IS LIFE AND PEACE
The opposite of setting our minds on the flesh is to set our minds on the Spirit. To set our minds on the Spirit, means to focus on God. As we set our minds on Him, we will experience life and peace.
The reason we will experience life and peace as we set our minds on the Holy Spirit is because as God, He is Life (John 1:4), and He is peace (Isaiah 9:6).
The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us the moment we put our faith in Jesus for salvation. We are in an inseparable union with God.
In Him, we have life and peace, but we will not experience that life and peace if our minds are set on the flesh. However, if our minds are set on the Spirit, we’ll begin to experience the life and peace we already have in Him.
I mentioned earlier how much I can doubt, worry, and live in fear when I am focused on the flesh. But when I am focused on the Spirit, those doubts, worries, and fears go away.
When my mind is fixed on Him, I am focusing on The Great I Am who lives within me. He is eternal, omnipotent, all-wise. He is love, and He is goodness. He is life, and He is peace.
As I focus on Him, I begin to experience His love, goodness, wisdom, and power in my life. I begin to experience abundant life, and I am at peace even when my situations and circumstances are falling apart.
The mind is powerful, and the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.
GRATITUDE WALKS
I believe that setting the mind on the Spirit is closely related to prayers of thanksgiving.
The apostle Paul often mentions praying with thanksgiving in many of the New Testament letters that the Holy Spirit inspired him to write. One of those is found in Colossians:
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.
(Colossians 4:2)
When we pray, we are praying to God. In other words, we are setting our minds on Him.
When we give thanks to Him in prayer, we are focusing on the good things about who He is and what He is doing in our lives even in situations that aren’t always good.
As we give thanks to Him, we are setting our minds on Him and His activity in our lives and we begin to experience the Life and Peace that we already have in our union with Him.
So, begin praying prayers of thanksgiving. Better yet, get outside in God’s creation, go on a walk, and pray with thanksgiving as you walk.
It’s not the walk or the prayer that the life or peace will be found in, but it will help set your mind on the One who is Life and Peace and who dwells within you and gets expressed through you.