THEARTOFCHRIST — Issue 02: Mindset The Mind Set on Christ How Christ brings about life, and how He supplies it more abundantly. You cannot live above what your mind is set on. The world knows this much. It calls the thing "mindset" and tells you to think positive, to take control of your thoughts, to set your mind like a thermostat and produce the life you want. The herald announces another gospel: the mind is not produced. The mind is set. What it is set on, it becomes. And God alone can set it. Anchor: The Mind That God Renews Be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Rom 12:2). Set your mind on the things of the Spirit, not the things of the flesh (Rom 8:5, paraphrase). Set your mind on things above (Col 3:2, paraphrase). The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace (Rom 8:6, paraphrase). Hear what Scripture says: the mind is the thing set, not the thing doing the setting. God renews it. God sets it. God gives life and peace where it is set on the Spirit. The apostle does not command you to manufacture a better mindset. He commands the presentation of the body (Rom 12:1), and God performs the renewal (Rom 12:2). The work is God's. The hearing is God's. The growth is God's. A Mind Apart from Christ Cannot Set Itself Right Scripture does not flatter the mind apart from Christ. They walk in the futility of their mind (Eph 4:17, paraphrase). They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God (Eph 4:18). That is the contrast that governs this whole workshop: in Christ, life; apart from Christ, alienation from the life of God. The heart is deceitful above all things (Jer 17:9). Therefore the mind that sits on the heart is fed by deception. The mind of the flesh is hostile to God, and it cannot please God (Rom 8:7-8, paraphrase). Not will not try harder — cannot. This is why the world's program of positive thinking is a treadmill. It asks the deceitful heart to supervise the deceitful heart. It asks the mind that is hostile to God to make itself friendly. It cannot. So the man apart from Christ sets his mind on flesh and reaps corruption (Gal 6:8, paraphrase). He thinks his thoughts will make him great, and his thoughts make him futile. He guards his attitude, curates his inputs, cuts off the wrong voices, repeats his affirmations — and the heart stays deceitful underneath. The mind is set. The question is only who set it and on what. Christ Sets the Mind In Christ, God gives a new mind. We have the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16). Be renewed in the spirit of your mind (Eph 4:23, paraphrase). Put on the new self (Eph 4:24). God does this. God gives the new mind the way God gives the new heart: He speaks, and it is. God keeps the mind set on things above. Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable — think about these things (Phil 4:8, paraphrase). This is not a technique. This is the mind of Christ functioning: the mind God set on Christ sees Christ's things everywhere. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus (Phil 2:5, paraphrase). That mind — the mind that Christ had — is service, humility, obedience to death (Phil 2:6-8). The mind set on Christ does not climb. It descends. It serves. And God highly exalts it (Phil 2:9). In Christ, the mindset is not self-advancement. The mindset is the mind of a servant, which God exalts. So the contrast is not "negative versus positive thinking." It is in Christ versus apart from Christ. The man apart from Christ polishes thoughts. The man in Christ receives a mind. One is man's work on himself. The other is God's work in the man. Mindset Is Physical Every topic in this workshop relates to physical life, and mindset is no exception. The mind that is set on the Spirit produces a body that behaves. Think on what is true, and your speech steadies. Think on what is honorable, and your hands go to work instead of scrolling. Think on what is pure, and your appetite is ordered rather than inflamed. You see it in the body. A man set on flesh wakes anxious, grips his phone, eats without tasting, speaks before listening. The mind is set, and the body follows the setting. The mind set on the flesh is death (Rom 8:6) — and death begins in the living body: restless, inflamed, disordered. A man set on the Spirit by God wakes and gives thanks. His body follows: he works honestly, he eats with thanks, he speaks the truth in love (Eph 4:15), he sleeps because he knows God neither slumbers nor sleeps (Ps 121:4, paraphrase). The same ordinary days. The same body. But the mind is set elsewhere, and the body moves differently. Christ supplies life more abundantly (John 10:10). Therefore the physical disciplines of this workshop — sleep, food, exercise, speech, work — are not separate from mindset. They are what the renewed mind does with a body. God renews the mind, and the renewed mind handles the body as the temple it is (1 Cor 6:19-20). You cannot think your way into a body that obeys. But a mind set by God on Christ will not long leave the body undisciplined. The setting produces the movement. Do Not Manage Thoughts. Receive the Mind. The world says: be mindful of your thoughts, challenge your negative ones, take control. Scripture says: the mind is renewed by God when the body is presented to God (Rom 12:1-2). So stop asking your deceitful heart to audit your thoughts. Present yourself to God. Give thanks. Receive the mind of Christ. That thinking is the fruit of the setting, not the setting itself. God sets. The man thinks the thoughts of the mind he was given. And God gives the growth (1 Cor 3:6). So give thanks when the truth of Christ comes to mind. That thanks is the renewed mind at work — the mind God gave, functioning as God set it. You did not produce it. You received it. Warning and Invitation The mind set on the flesh is death (Rom 8:6). The mind that is hostile to God cannot please God (Rom 8:7-8). Whoever does not believe stands condemned already (John 3:18). Apart from Christ, the mind keeps setting itself on flesh and reaping corruption, and calls the reaping discipline. Yet in Christ, God gives a new mind. He who believes HAS eternal life (John 6:47). The mind of Christ is yours in Christ (Phil 2:5). Repent and believe the gospel (Mark 1:15). Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matt 11:28). Come, and God will set your mind where it was meant to be set: on Christ above (Col 3:2). This Week Read Romans 8 and Philippians 2. Watch where Scripture says the mind is set. Watch who does the setting. When your mind drifts to flesh — grievance, appetite, image, worry — do not try to drift back by thinking harder. Present yourself to God and give thanks. Let the mind God gave function: think on what is true. The setting is God's. The peace is God's. The life is Christ's, more abundantly. This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son (1 John 5:11).