Mindset Matters (Part 2)

Romans 8 comes to mind when I think about the mindset of a Christian. Up to this point in Romans, Paul has explained the problem of sin, how in His perfect timing God sent His Son, and how our new lives in Him is defined and illustrated. When he gets to chapter 8, he starts to focus in on the implications that this new life entails. In reality, Romans very much explains the sanctification process. He has explained that there is sin in the world, that no matter who you are not exempt from its consequences, that God sent his son at the perfect time, and how you can be a new creation through him. In chapter 8, Paul explains that there is great potential in this new life and greater reward that is waiting for each of us. The sad reality becomes that most people have yet to even scratch that. We have the greatest gift in all of creation but most people and churches have yet to see the results. I would argue that most don’t do the most basic thing mentioned in the chapter, walking in accordance to the spirit. 

We as a church need to adopt a Spirit focused mind-set if we are going to see any change. Look at the verb used in the passage, walk. If you want to ensure you reach your destination, you have to constantly make the decision to walk in that direction, and choose that every day. The passage shows us our walk directly reflects what your motivations are rooted in, the flesh or Christ. The most important thing we can do is choose, because until we make a choice, we can not move forward. When we focus on the things that are not Spirit-centered and focus on the things the world says are important, financials and metrics, you will not have an organization that is moving in the right direction. 

Now if you are moving in a different direction than before, you will probably end up somewhere outside your comfort zone. When people get comfortable, they build routines, and those routines become habits, and those habits ultimately influences your culture. They come to being because they originally worked and they made things easier and less stressful. However, when you are comfortable, you often become complacent and less-effective. We need to put ourselves in places where were will be challenged to learn, adapt and get better. That means evaluating our weaknesses and working at making tem our strengths. That often means challenging how we view them and re-evaluating if what we are doing is what we should be doing. Trust me, it is going to be hard, but only when it gets hard does it start to matter. One thing to remember in all of it is that we have God on our side. Read Romans 8

With change however, there is often a reluctance to change because of fear, fear of pain and failure. We often have sweat equity built into the things we have been doing and for some to stop one thing to pursue something else, that doesn’t have a guaranteed outcome, is viewed as a waste. The truth of the matter is that if you do not allow yourself to work towards something and fail, you will never learn what your limitations and true abilities are. The Christian life is not about being a good Christ follower today, it is about becoming a better Christ follower than you were yesterday. There will be pain and struggling, but if it is working towards getting closer to the Almighty and reaching others for Him, it is worth all of it. It requires action and often doing something you may feel ill-prepared for, but you will never be ready for something you have never done before. You need to just start. The people we look up to, from scripture, were just like us, unsure but they were undeterred. When everything said wait, they listened to God and they went. Did most have a background related to what they did, no but God used them anyway. The pivotal point between success and failure is that first step. 

One thing to be aware of though is that voice inside of us. As Christians, we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within u. He is known as that Great Counselor and his presence is what many Christians are looking for His presence, saying that they don’t feel or hear Him, but the truth is that they probably are not really listening for Him. In John 14, Christ tells us that the Spirit with teach us and remind us what He told us through his word. Our part in that is to listen and to think about the things of the Spirit, because it will coach you better than anyone else. The things we think, become our words, which in turn become our actions. If we focus and think in the same way as the Spirit, our words will reflect that and in turn so will our actions.