December 6
December 6
There is a war raging for your mind, and you must be willing to join the battle.
Human beings, who are all made in the image of God, do not live life based simply on the facts of our lives; we live according to our personal interpretation of those facts. We are all thinkers. God has wired into us a desire to make sense out of who we are and the world we live in. We are meaning makers. We are interpreters. The sense we make out of life then determines the actions we take. God has designed our rationality and our conceptual and interpretive abilities so that we might know him, understand his will for us, and commune with him.
There is never a moment when you are not thinking, interpreting, and seeking to make sense of something, someone, yourself, God, or some circumstance. You do what you do because, according to your interpretation of life, your choice makes sense to you. Because this is how humans function, we need a standard. We need a grand tool that helps us make sense of life. I assume you would never lay expensive flooring down in your house without first submitting yourself to a trustworthy standard of measurement: your measuring tape. But millions of people live with no higher standard than their own mind. Nevertheless, God has given us the ultimate interpretive tool: his word. It is meant to save your life, make you wise, direct your steps and, most importantly, draw you into an eternal relationship with the Lord of lords.
But there is a battle being fought for the control of your mind—that is, that which rules the life-shaping interpretations that you make:
As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. (Col. 2:6–8)
As the apostle Paul warns us of the constant battle for our minds, he makes a devastating appraisal of the philosophy of fallen human culture. He says it’s an “empty deceit.” It constantly promises you what it does not have the power to deliver. Why is this true? Because our culture is the product of the traditions of fallen human beings, many of whom have not submitted their minds to the one who created everything and is infinite in wisdom. How do we then guard and protect ourselves from having minds that go astray? Here’s Paul’s answer: we must determine to be rooted and built up in Christ and established in the faith. Social media is not the place to learn how to make sense out of life; your Bible is. And be glad: God fights for your mind even when you don’t.