Mind Your Worship (Part 2)

In the last post I mentioned Romans 12.1-2 and how Paul emphasizes the mind in the process of worship. This brings to mind the importance of what we’re feeding our minds. The mind is like a muscle that we must exercise if we want to see growth. Our bodies become flabby, tired and lazy if we don’t give them regular exercise. The same thing happens to our minds. And there are many Christians out there with flabby minds!

First, we must put good things into our minds. This includes God’s Word, good books that stimulate and stretch our thinking, good teaching and conversation, and other things that will help our minds grow strong and healthy. For example, this week I’m looking forward to meeting with a mentor (a minister from an area church) who helps me grow in my devotion to Jesus. I meet with him periodically to challenge my thinking and keep me accountable. This is good for both my mind and my soul. (But maybe not my body, since we always eat at Cracker Barrell!)

Second, we have to keep the bad stuff out of our minds. There is an immense amount of potentially negative input that can go into our minds on a daily basis. We are surrounded by media all the time that subtly (and not-so-subtly) affects our thinking. We wouldn’t dream of eating candy bars all day and expect to stay trim and healthy, yet we fill our minds with the equivalent of junk food every day and don’t give it a second thought.

If the key to worship is the mind, we need to really pay attention to what we’re putting in, and what we’re keeping out.