No...Really! Think about that for a moment.
Have you ever loaded up for a road trip and as you got in to the car to begin that 10-12 hour drive...thought to yourself...”Oh Gosh!...I have to keep my eyes on the road now for hours. I won’t be able to read a book or watch a movie or even take a nap! What a burden!!!”
Then, as you moved out in to open country on the interstate, did you find yourself sitting stiffly upright with both hands clenched fiercely on the steering wheel with your eyes wide open, almost in a frantic and fearful expression locked straight ahead...and the first time that person traveling with you asked you a question...did you scream loudly at them while your eyes were glued to the road asking them: “PLEASE DO NOT TALK TO ME!....Can’t you see I am driving? Do you want me to veer off the road and kill us all?”
That would seem a bit off, would it not? I actually enjoy road trips and long drives through scenic countryside. I’ve been known to stop more than the average person to capture a photo or two as well. It is actually a relaxing time for me to settle in for a long drive. And one of the things I have learned I can do on these long drives is I can enjoy the scenery as I’m driving. I can also listen to music, have good conversation in the car with my wife (or whoever I am traveling with) and I can even enjoy a meal, feeding myself while driving. I will confess I’ve been known to glance at my phone a time or two while driving as well. And to this date, I have yet to drift out of my lane and off a cliff or into oncoming traffic. Now that is not to say there have been times that I’ve drifted while maybe being too distracted and hit those lane grooves/bumps that let you know you just crossed a line. But I make that immediate correction and continue on.
I think we get this. I would say we also get the idea that if you chose not to make the deliberate decision to keep your eyes on the road and your car in its lane, that the outcome would be perilous and unfavorable. Needless to say, you would most likely not reach your destination, let alone get very far at all on the journey.
So let’s talk about our ‘journey of faith’ or our ‘walk with Jesus’. And even more specifically, let’s talk about what’s ‘on your mind’ or where your ‘head is at’. This has probably been one of the most significant areas of growth and understanding for me since I had my personal awakening over 30 months ago. And it all ties in with this idea of ‘abiding’ in Him. Please know that I in no way am trying to portray myself as some highly enlightened holy man who ‘has arrived’ and am perched high atop some pinnacle looking down on everyone else. Far from it. On the contrary, I feel like that women who met Jesus at the well in Samaria who had a life changing encounter and wants to run back into town telling everyone about this ‘Man’ who knows everything about me. (John 4:29). Remember...she had a bit of a ‘tainted past’.
I would like to draw your attention to one statement made by Paul in his letter to the Colossians. He was not diving off in to deep theology nor hidden mysteries. It was a simple word of instruction, if not a helpful command...
“Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” (3:2)
You should note that this is something we can...and are instructed to DO....with purpose and intent.
Set. Your. Mind. On. Things. Above....
Remember the story we read the other day in Mark 5 about the man who was possessed and driven by demon spirits (lots of them) ? He was so ‘far gone’ that ‘no man could tame or calm him’, nor could they keep him secure in chains or even dressed for that matter. And one of the things he was noted as doing was constantly cutting himself...for who knows what reason. Seems he was also heard frequently ‘crying out’.
People who are bound and hurting tend to ‘cry out’ in an assortment of ways.
But after Jesus set him free of his tormentors, we read where the local townspeople came out to investigate and found him sitting there with Jesus, fully clothed and “in his right mind.”(5:15)
I don’t know about you, but I find it absolutely amazing we see this connection between a man who was driven and tormented by thousands of demons...and once his spiritual condition was addressed and ‘fixed’, he was back in his ‘right mind’. Could you just pause here for a moment and look back to times where someone you might have known and loved or were friends with...and they seemingly ‘snapped’ and did things you would have never guessed they were capable of doing before. I mean it could a ‘deranged shooter’ or perhaps a seemingly sound spouse who left their family to run off with another person and nobody saw that coming. Let’s be honest...the news is full of tragic stories of crazy things people do that leave a wake of tragedy in their path while everyone scratches their head and asks...”What on earth got in to them?”
That’s a rather telling question, is it not? – ‘’What got IN to them?”
Paul gives us another gem of a short word of advice in Eph. 4:27 where he write: ‘Give no place to the devil.”
At the end of the day after all the commentaries have been read and the language broken down and you have analyzed the cultural trends of that time period...what that short verse really means is... Give. No. Place. To. The. Devil. PERIOD.
What did Jesus tell us is most likely to happen ‘after an unclean spirit goes out of a man’? (Matt. 12:43-45)
We know little if anything about what led to this man’s pitiful condition in Mark 5. But we know all that God wants us to know. He was tormented and controlled by unclean spirits and once they were gone, he was in his ‘right mind’. So just maybe Paul has reason to exhort us to ‘set our minds on things above and not on things on the earth.’ I have been amazed over the amount of scripture in our bible that really speaks to this subject. And they are all verses I have no doubt you are familiar with yourself and have heard and read before. You may even have many of these marked or highlighted in your own bible. But my goodness...when the Holy Spirit brings them to life...what a difference it can make.
‘Setting your mind’...something I might add is something We do with intent and purpose...is very much akin to what we do when we get behind the wheel of that car and head out on a long journey (or even short one). We ‘set our eyes and attention on the road before us’ or else we will suffer the consequences and most likely experience great suffering-loss and pain and even death.
And here’s a confession of sorts speaking for myself now. I learned that if/when my heart was not ‘totally in’ as in 100% ...fully invested to ‘loving God with ALL my heart’...that ‘setting my mind on things above’ was not something I really wanted to do ALL the time. A lot of the time, especially when my walk seemed closer, yes. But even in the best of those times, I would prefer to look at such an exhortation as a ‘good idea and something we should aspire to, but it is not realistic in this day and age to be able to do this.’ You know...keep your mind on ‘things above’.
So what might happen if we took that same approach every time we got behind the wheel of a car and told ourselves...’keeping my eyes on the road and my car in its lane is a good idea and I hope to do better at this...but it certainly is not realistic to think I can, given I’m not perfect. I have things to do and focus on WHILE I’m driving and I really can’t be bothered with being so legalistic and force myself to do this.”
Yeah...that does sound odd when you look at it that way, does it not?
Paul really has much to say about this ‘mind’ stuff. He wrote expressing his concerns in 2 Cor. That he was fearful that those believers there might have their own “minds corrupted”. (11:3). He even points back to what happened to Eve as a comparison as to how one’s mind can actually be corrupted. When God says one thing, and the enemy tries to convince us of something else contrary to what God says...we end up believing a lie and suffer for it. Paul reminds us of the ‘devices of the devil’ and how we are not ignorant of them. (2 Cor. 3:11). Maybe Paul is giving us more credit than we deserve?
When Paul addresses this idea of a spiritual war we find ourselves in (2 Cor. 10) he notes that our ‘weapons’ are not carnal or earthly, but spiritual. And one of those verses I have read/heard for years but I never really put in to practice is how we are to ‘bring into captivity EVERY thought to the obedience of Christ.” (5). Yeah, that was another one of those verses that ‘sounded good’ but was nearly impossible to do.
One last passage for today. It would fit under that category of being ‘idealistic, but unrealistic’ to do. It’s the very first three verses in Psalm 1. Go take a look at it if you would. It’s the second verse that seems pretty ‘out there’ to expect any of us to do. But yet, it’s there for a reason and the benefits of doing this, if possible, is found in verse 3. We read there about how this brings forth fruit in its season.
And if you don’t think bringing forth good fruit is important, then you have not been paying attention. ;-) (Matt. 3:10; 7:19). Oh....if you have an extra second, see if some more dots connect for you there in Matt. 3:12, Ps. 1:4.
Join me tomorrow? Set your mind to it. :- )
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