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| No Relation--Random Child |
Set Your Mind and Keep it Set
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3: 1-2
He clearly tells us to think about things that are important to God and doing so will always fill our minds with good thoughts. "Setting" your mind is probably one of the greatest and most beneficial things you can learn to do. To "set" your mind means to make up your mind firmly. Once you set your mind according to the truth of God's principles for a good life, you need to keep it set and not allow outside forces to reshape your thinking.
To set your mind does not mean to be narrow-minded and stubborn. We should always be open to learning, growing, and changing, but we must consistently resist the temptation to conform our thoughts to the world and its ideas. To set your mind on things above means to be firm in your decision to agree with God's ways of living no matter who may try to convince you that you are wrong.
The reason setting your mind and keeping it set is important is that there's really not much hope of being able to resist temptation if you don't make up your mind ahead of time concerning what you will do when you are tempted. You will be tempted; that's just a fact of life. So you need to think ahead of time about the situations that can pose problems for you.
Make up your mind ahead of time that you are going to go all the way through with God. Some people spend their entire life starting and quitting. They never follow through. I strongly encourage you to be one of the ones who finishes what you start by keeping your mind set in the right direction all the way through to victory.
(Joyce Meyers-Power Thoughts)
There are specific things that I will not do because of personal convictions in alignment with what the Bible teaches. There should be lines drawn that you just won't cross over--morally speaking. But it's a fine line between "setting your mind" and becoming judgmental. What Joyce is talking about is your own personal reactions to situations that will come up and how you are going to "deal" with it beforehand.
We use conflict resolution in the classroom--learning how to self-talk to yourself and each other in order to solve a problem. Identifying your weak areas and being prepared in advance for when they come up. Here are a few of mine:
*I will not knowingly engage in gossip today (even though I love it); my response will be "not my business--I'll tend to my own". Which I have used this past week and it works; gossip comes back to bite you--best to try and stay out of it.
*I can eat like a sane person today and not have to devour everything in sight; God has given me common sense and I can use it. I like to plan in the morning what I'm going to eat during the day.
*I will be flexible today because I know in the crazy world of public education--nothing is ever organized.(I think that was one positive and two negatives in this one--old habits die hard)
Anyway, you get the picture--but you can't do this on your own or you will fail. Everything needs to be handed over to Christ and allow His Grace to help you.
1 comment:
"...my response will be "not my business--I'll tend to my own". "
Hmmm... you got me thinking.
Recently I've been backing away, trying not to be drawn into behind the scenes "drama" from some blogs. It finally got through to me that I was feeling dragged down by it (it took me awhile to get that, since it IS kind of fun at the same time, like the gossip).
When I read your response "not my business, I'll tend to my own", it hit me that that was what I was telling myself to stay OUT of all the drama. So maybe these are kind of like cousins... the gossip and the "drama" that goes on.
Anyway, it's a lot more peaceful keeping my nose out of it! :-)
Loretta
=^..^=
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