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Authors: Casey Treat

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Don’t Look at the Rock
In my twenties and thirties, I was an avid bicycle racer. Even in Seattle with its many months of rain, I would train almost every day for the next race. Miles and miles, through rough terrain and steep hills, I would ride with a few of my cycling friends. Once, a buddy and I completed the Seattle to Portland annual race, riding about two hundred miles in just ten hours. It is an exciting, healthy, and time-consuming sport.
One of the major disciplines for every cyclist is focus. Whether racing around corners just inches away from the other bikes in the pack or speeding down mountains in a bicycle lane barely ten inches wide, it was imperative to keep my eyes focused upon where I wanted to go next. If I was worried about colliding with the bike next to me, and I fixed my eyes on its wheels instead of the road ahead, chances are I would accidentally steer my bike toward that wheel and clip the other rider’s bike. The very thing I was trying to prevent would happen, and before I knew it, a chain reaction of crashes would cause many of us to become tangled in a mess of wrecked bicycles. No matter what was going on around me—bad weather, crashes around me, or other distractions—I would be able to avoid skidding across the surface of the road if I simply stayed disciplined to look straight ahead.
This concept is
key
to renewing the mind and engrafting God’s thoughts into our lives. Whatever it is that we are spending most of our time focusing on is the very thing we will cause to happen in our lives. Just like the cyclist, if we have our eyes fixed on the rocks in the road, the things we
don’t
want to have in our lives, even though we want to avoid them, we will steer our lives straight toward them. It’s not a matter of what you
desire
for your life; it’s a matter of what you decide to fix your eyes upon. In Colossians 3:1-2, Paul writes, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth”.
Whatever it is that we are spending most of our time focusing on is the very thing we will cause to happen in our lives.
We must set our minds on the ways and the principles of God. Again, this does not mean focusing up at the sky trying to see a glory cloud descending from Heaven. It means whatever you are doing throughout the day, you do it with a godly perspective. And it takes effort to set your mind on things above because everything around us in the world is trying to grab our attention. With the world’s advertisements everywhere we look, and its attitudes in many of the people around us, we have to make a choice to think in a different way. Unless we purposefully steer our minds toward the paths we want our lives to follow, we will automatically find ourselves along the ways of the world and its carnal lifestyle.
To set our minds means to exercise our minds, to stretch our brains. When was the last time you exercised your brain and thought in a new way? If we were able to take a picture of the health of your mind, what would it look like—a big blob lounging in an easy chair or a strong, fit, and active force? The way to make your brain and mind strong and active is by taking an interest in furthering your obedience to God. Most seem to have time to watch TV and many read all of the celebrity gossip, but how much time do we spend involved with God’s Word? Whenever I hear someone say they don’t have time to read the Bible or pray and have fellowship with God, I want to shout, “Liar! You are totally lying to me right now!” Of course, my tenderhearted and compassionate pastoral heart overpowers these urges and I keep myself under control. But the truth is we all have the time. We choose not to spend the time focused on the ways of God because we are more interested in other things.
However, if we want to move forward in our lives, we need to get ourselves focused on the things of God. We must set our minds on His thoughts and His ways. When we stretch our minds and exercise our brains, we are engaged in this continual process of renewal, and we are able to stay young. If we’ll learn something new and choose to think new thoughts, we’ll stay pliable and ready to go for greater dreams and goals. Growing old is simply a matter of mind-set, and this can happen when we are twenty-five or when we are ninety-five. There are some ninety-five-year-olds walking around as if they were younger than a twenty-five-year-old who has stopped embracing new challenges and new ways of thinking. Let’s decide to stay young and purposefully set our minds on things above, not on the things of this earth.
Have you ever had an opportunity to do something new come your way and you thought,
I’m not going to be afraid. I’m not going to be afraid. I’m not going to allow myself to be afraid this time and mess things up. I’m not going to focus on the fear or the sweaty hands or the heart palpitations. I’m going to go in there, and I will not be afraid . . .
What happened? You were afraid! You spent so much time psyching yourself out trying
not
to be afraid, the fear was all you could think about! You can’t not think about it by thinking about not thinking about it. (Did you get that? You might need to read that last sentence again.)
We can’t get rid of fear (or any other type of negative habit) by focusing on it. If all we are thinking about is the fear, then that’s all we are going to experience. If we want something different, then we need to set our minds on something different; we need to feed our courage and starve the fear. Instead of negative thoughts, we can choose to think God’s thoughts: “God has not given me a spirit of fear, but one of power, love and a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). “Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world” (2 John 4:4)
.
“God is my peace, and He has given me the peace that passes my understanding” (Philippians 4:7). If we will discipline ourselves to meditate on these thoughts and exercise our minds to focus on courage instead of fear, all of a sudden we will begin to feel strong on the inside and our fears will fade away.
This is an example of setting our minds on things above. It means we focus on what we want, instead of what we don’t want. This seems almost too simple, doesn’t it? It may not be rocket science, but it will change your life if you will embrace it! Any area of our lives that is negative or is below the level we want it to be, we can change it. If we will spend the time to engraft God’s Word into our lives by aligning our thoughts to His thoughts, we will be able to discover the renewal and the victory we have been searching for.
The Race Toward Renewal
In a fast, challenging race, runners are trained to never look behind them. Even a glance back at their competition can take hundredths of a second off their time, and that split second can be the difference between a first-place win and a second-place finish. The sprinters are not looking at the other competitors or at the spectators in the stands; they are looking forward to the prize ahead of them. In our walk with Jesus, we must cultivate this same type of forward vision. In Philippians 3:12b-14, Paul teaches, “I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Just like the fear example in the previous section, if we allow ourselves to focus our thoughts on anything except the positive results we are aiming for, we will never find ourselves capturing the prize of the upward call of God. Notice Paul writes God’s will for our lives is an “upward” call. Every day, every month, every year, it is God’s desire that we continually experience more and more of His blessings and abundance in our lives. If we lock our minds on His promises, we will see this come to pass, but if we hesitate to press forward, and keep looking behind into the pain and disappointments of our past, we will never be able to walk in His destiny and His perfect will for our lives.
So many of us have been hurt by someone or by something in our past: abuse, abandonment, rejection, and even our own poor choices have left painful scars in our souls. As a result, we are stuck in anger and bitterness, unable to forgive, and we can’t move forward or reach for the next level of life. Only the power of God’s Word can rescue us from the hold of our past. Remember, James said it was the engrafted Word that has the power to save our souls. This includes any pain we might harbor from our past. God’s Word is big enough and powerful enough to bring healing to our hearts—
if
we will allow it. This process of healing may not be easy and may take some time, but God’s Word
will
set us free from our pasts if we will press forward and receive His restoration.
Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” Just like setting our minds on the things we desire, “forgetting those things which are behind” takes an attitude and a discipline to engage in God’s Word, to think on God’s Word. We must focus on the promises of God, not just for our futures, but also for our day-to-day lives. Proverbs 23:7 tells us that “as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” We have the power within us to be healthy and whole in our hearts or to be weak and victimized. We cannot change our pasts, but we can change how we
think
about our pasts. We cannot change the abuse, but we can choose to forgive and to receive God’s healing. We cannot change the poor choices we made, but we can learn from our mistakes and choose to grow in God’s Word. We can choose to meditate on His Word.
15
The Spirit of the Mind
M
any Christians live their entire lives never understanding how they can change those areas with which they have struggled, and even though they had a sincere desire to be different, they never initiated the process of renewal. Desire to change, no matter how strong it may be, will never be enough to experience lasting change in our lives. In order to be different, to live life at a higher level, we need new revelation and deeper understanding of the principles of God. This goes beyond just hearing weekly sermons and believing the Bible. This renewal takes a diligence to move beyond the surface of our lives. It requires an honest look within the core of who we are, the inner man, the subconscious . . . the spirit of the mind.
Have you ever been around someone, and even though he said nice things and acted in the right way, you just didn’t get a good feeling about him? You might say that he “gives off the wrong vibe” or that “there’s something about him I can’t seem to put my finger on, but it’s just not right.” Any way you phrase it, what you are trying to say is that there is something we cannot see, something coming from the core of who he is that isn’t right. Maybe he’s hurting in his heart, has major insecurities, or even has wrong motives, and no matter what he says or does, the feeling he gives off makes others feel uncomfortable. We are referring to the spirit of the man, or the spirit of his mind.
Another way to explain it is this: Have you ever told a friend you didn’t like something (a food, a type of television show, or a style of clothing) and when that friend asked you why, you just said, “I don’t know, I just don’t like it.” Later, when you thought about it, you realized you didn’t have any reason why you had the opinion you did. You don’t know why you didn’t like it, you just didn’t. Again, it has to do with the spirit of your mind, or your subconscious. If you thought long enough, you probably could find what the true reasons were behind your preference. Maybe your mom didn’t like that thing, or a person who once hurt you did like it and that thing reminds you of that situation. Whatever the case may be, every one of us has beliefs and preferences that are rooted in our subconscious minds, or the spirit of our minds, and through the course of our lives we simply go along with these beliefs without recognizing them or asking what truths they are based upon.
Ephesians 4:22-24 gives us some insight. Paul says to “put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts
, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (emphasis added). Here Paul makes a unique distinction. In other writings he writes about being transformed by the renewing of our minds, and here he talks about being renewed in the
spirit
of our minds. This renewal goes to the core of each person, to the inner being, and enables us to change those thoughts, habits, and addictions embedded deep within the subconscious. Renewing the mind allows us to change the way we think; renewing the spirit of our mind allows us to change why we think the way we think.
Dr. David Yonggi Cho, who is the founder and senior pastor of the largest church in the world, Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, Korea, was visiting our church, Christian Faith Center. After he taught one of our services, he invited Wendy and me to lunch. He had been out of his country for some time and was craving a good home-cooked Korean meal. We have many people in our congregation who were born in Korea, so several of the ladies fixed Dr. Cho a huge spread of authentic Korean cuisine and delivered it to his hotel room. When we arrived, there were tables of various delicacies: squid, octopus, kimchi, and some other things I had never seen before.
Renewing the mind allows us to change the way we think; renewing the spirit of our mind allows us to change why we think the way we think.
Dr. Cho was thrilled as he ate everything, commenting on how wonderful it all tasted. Meanwhile, Wendy and I would smile and take small bites, and say, “Yum.” Then after we left, we drove somewhere to get some “real” food. Every bit of that Korean food tasted delicious to Dr. Cho. It reminded him of the food he grew up on, the smells of his home country, and he savored each dish. Why did he love it so much while all Wendy and I could think was,
Do you have any ketchup to put on this? Where’s the A-1 sauce?
It’s all in the subconscious.
Cultures have their own ways, habits, and foods, and whatever culture you grew up in, in general you will automatically like the things that spring from your heritage. These beliefs become part of your subconscious and the spirit of your mind. Each culture differs from another, has its own ways and attitudes, and usually looks upon another culture’s ways as different and often strange. Just like Dr. Cho loved the squid and couldn’t imagine anyone thinking otherwise, Wendy and I looked at that very same squid and couldn’t imagine why anyone would put it in his mouth
on purpose
. We were raised in different cultures and, likewise, developed different preferences and beliefs.
Much of the reactions, attitudes, and feelings we have toward things are not conscious choices. We like things simply because we do, and that’s that. Why we favor certain foods, why we are attracted to certain types of people, why we struggle with particular emotions or weaknesses—most of this has to do with our subconscious minds. Whole cultures generate opinions on issues or have certain prejudices and beliefs without analyzing them or thinking through them as they are passed from generation to generation. Both positive habits and negative habits; every one of us has ways of thinking we “inherited” from our parents and grandparents, and unless we stop to think about why we are how we are, we can never change.
It doesn’t really matter why we believe what we believe or why we like what we like. In fact, we can spend hundreds of hours with therapists and self-help books and maybe we could discover the answers to “why,” but at the end of the day, knowing the “why” behind the “what” isn’t going to help us live a better life. The only question we need to ask ourselves is, do my beliefs, attitudes, and feelings align with the Word of God? In the areas where the answer is “yes,” we can be encouraged. In the areas where the answer is “no,” we can see a great opportunity for renewal!

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