Your mind does not have to be filled with ‘bad things’ in order to keep you from walking in perfect peace; it just has to be filled with pretty much anything else that keeps your mind off of God. (Isa. 26:3)

Something we probably don’t give much thought to (no pun intended here) is the fact that not only does the first and foremost commandment that we’re expected to fulfill and obey... not only includes loving God with ALL our hearts, but also with ALL our minds. (Matt. 22:37; Luke 10:25-28)

And something else I need to say that probably needs to be repeated often for all of us to hear...is this ‘abiding in Jesus’ so that we can be ‘sanctified’ does not just happen automatically because we join a church. Nor does it happen because we simply desire it or say we are willing to be ‘made holy’.

When a new convert makes their initial ‘profession of faith’ and/or ‘gives their life to Jesus, it is the beginning of a walk, not the end. And those who endure till the end will be saved. (Matt. 24:13). We always have the option to ‘tap out’ and go our own way, and many do, believe it or not. (John 6:66; Matt. 22:5).

Daniel saw a time coming towards the end where “many would be purified, made white, and refined”.(Dan. 12:9-10). Paul tells us that without this process of sanctification... ’no one will see the Lord’. (Heb. 12:14) And not to be redundant but this process simply does not take place because we ‘have faith’ it will. Christ becomes the source of eternal salvation to all those who ‘obey Him’ (Heb. 5:9) and Peter was kind enough to just flat out tell us that we are “purified in obeying the truth through the Spirit’. (1 Pet. 1:22)

So IF this ‘following the Spirit’ really is something more than just a ‘holy option for super saints’, then so many of these other verses just lying there in our Bibles begin to make so much more sense. Trust me, it’s taken me years to finally ‘see it’. Now I just want others who have struggled in their walks to ‘see it’ as well.

We know that Jesus came to His own, but they did not receive Him. But to those who did receive Him, He gave them the right or power to ‘become children of God’. (John 1:11-12). And we know that it is the ones who are ‘led by His Spirit who are the children of God’. (Rom. 8:14)

When Jesus arrived on the scene over 2ooo years ago, His message was NOT: “Hey everyone...come and tell me how sorry you are for being a wretched sinner and I will let you go to heaven some day when you die!” He was consistent in telling us to ‘Repent’... and ‘follow Him’. He even warned us that if we did not repent, we would all perish. (Luke 13:3,5). And that was not a threat; it was a warning given to us in love. (John 3:17; 2 Pet. 3:9)

If I get lost driving in a big city and need to get somewhere that is important and urgent, then I am very thankful when I cross paths with someone who is willing to lead me there. In fact, I make it my top priority to stay on their rear as we drive through and navigate traffic. If they change lanes, I change lanes. If they signal to take an exit, I’m right there with them. I bet you have been in a similar situation before, yes? Now imagine doing this in a heavy downpour of rain as you grip that wheel and have the wipers on high speed. You are not about to lose this person who was kind enough to get you to where you needed to be.

Now that is not to say you won’t have a few unforeseen distractions to deal with, maybe missing a light or a pedestrian gets between you and the one leading you, but usually the one who is will notice that and slow down and wait for you to catch up. One thing I will NOT be doing in this setting is randomly looking around at the scenery for future photo ops or trying to text or make calls on my phone. I am focused like a laser, whether it takes ten minutes to get there or 45 minutes.

Can I just tell you that is kind of what abiding in Jesus is all about, but minus the stress. :- )

We believers were told to “set our mind on things above, not...on things on the earth.” (Col. 3:2).(it wasn’t a suggestion) I say we ‘believers’ because vs. 1 begins with: “IF...we were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.”

You do realize this is a conscious decision we make, and a deliberate action we carry out. This was not put in there for us to analyze, but to do. And we do not have the luxury of sitting in the back of a Taxi car and let our minds wander on anything and everything else while the driver takes us to our destination.

Jesus is not our Uber driver.

IF we have truly given or ‘presented our bodies (heart, mind, and soul) as a living sacrifice to God...which is our reasonable service, (Rom. 12:1) then we would do well to avoid ‘being conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind that we may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (2)

Which takes me back to this idea of how much a role our minds play when it comes to abiding in Jesus. If you were taught some other doctrine on ‘how to be saved’ that required little of you, if anything at all other than ‘faith’, can I just tell you now you better rethink some of that and spend time examining these verses. (Acts 17:11)

Paul was quoting some OT passages earlier in his letter to the Romans, sizing up the condition of mankind with comments like: “The way of peace thy have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Rom. 3:17-18). We are told that Jesus came to ‘give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.’ (Luke 1:79). And I can assure you that His path of peace is ‘perfect peace’, but you have to ‘set your mind’ on choosing to walk in it.(Isa. 26:3) You don’t traverse this path by accident; it’s a narrow path too. (Matt. 7:13-14)

Would you care to guess why so many people end up not walking on that path of peace as they try to follow Jesus? I’m pretty sure it ties in to the fact they have yet to fully surrender their hearts to Him. I can’t tell you what a huge difference this makes. And guess what the gateway to the human heart is? It’s our minds.

“For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” (Prov. 23:7)

Paul pares it down this way: We are either going to be ‘carnally minded’ (mind set on the deeds of the flesh nature), or we will be ‘spiritually minded’ which is where we discover true ‘life and peace’. I should also add that the former leads to death, and makes you an enemy of God as you will never be able to subject yourself to the law of God and hence, unable to please Him.” (Rom. 8:5-8) James had some pretty harsh words for those who thought...they could remain ‘double-minded’ too. (James 1:7; 3:9-12; 4:4,8)

Allow me to illustrate this in a different way. A true follower of Jesus comes to Him with their whole heart and will do ‘whatever He asks because they love Him. (John 14:15; 2:5; Luke 6:46)

You can tell pretty quick what you love most by the thoughts you entertain and allow to settle in as they make their way in to your heart.

If I allow thoughts of resentment towards someone else to linger on my mind, instead of ‘bringing it in to captivity to the obedience of Christ’ (2 Cor. 10:5) then chances are the longer I dwell or think on those thoughts of how that person offended or even hurt me, then I am telling God...”Hey God...I love you...but I really want to dwell on these images and scenes as I replay in my mind how that person hurt me.” The longer I allow those those thoughts to stay, it’s only a matter of time before they make their way into my heart. The next thing you know...I’ll be acting on those thoughts, which eventually brings forth sin, and sin...leads to death. (James 1:13-16)

The same could be said about thoughts centering on self-pity, or pride or lustful thoughts (which is adultery-Matt. 5:28), or anything else that might be an area we are prone to falling in. And can I just tell you now that for most of my ‘Christian’ adult life, I don’t think I knew or believed that we could really ‘control’ our thought life! (2 Cor. 10:5) But then I discovered what it is like to abide in Him and walk with Him and be empowered by His grace to truly be transformed. Oh, I should also say that not only are we to ‘walk with Him’ but we are also going to ‘walk JUST AS He walked...IF...we are abiding in Him.” (1 John 2:6)

As usual, I’m running out of time/space here today so Lord willing, I will pick up with this tomorrow. But one last point that I bet more than a few of you might be encouraged to hear - Having bad thoughts is NOT...a sin. Being tempted to sin...is not a sin. Jesus Himself was “tempted in all points as we are...yet He did not sin.” (Heb. 4:15). And abiding in Jesus does not exempt you from being tempted to sin. But talk about a game changer- because when it is ‘Christ living in us as we die to self’ (Gal. 2:20)...you then begin to discover, as I have, that you truly can ‘do all things through Him.” (Phil.4:13)

I hope/pray that you will take some time today and maybe read this over again; and even more importantly... “think on these things”. ;-) (Phil. 4:8)