“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. “(ESV)
We have choices to make everyday:
We can choose death or we can choose Life.
We can choose hostility towards God or we can choose peace with God
We can choose to disobey God or we can choose to please Him.
The war that is fought for our hearts is won or lost in the war room of our mind. The flesh vs. the Spirit. Everyday we make choices as to which of these combatants we are going to arm for war. If we choose to arm our flesh then our flesh will be victorious. If we choose to arm the Spirit then the Spirit will be victorious. If we desire to live according to the Spirit then we MUST think on the things of the Spirit. Purposefully, willfully, ardently – set our minds on the things of the Spirit.
Thinking! It is a lost art. We do not take much time to think. We more often than not let others do our thinking for us. Thinking takes time. It takes solitude. It takes intentionality. Question – when is the last time you took an hour to be quiet and reflect on your life or meditate on what Scripture says or consider what God is doing around you?
And its not just that we must take the time to think but we must also think about the right things. As Philippians 3 says, things that are noble and true and pure and lovely and admirable. This is why I love pondering passages of Scripture – because it forces me to think with intentionality about the right kind of stuff. And blogging is just my way of thinking out loud.
So as long as we are talking about thinking, take a few minutes and think about these quotes about thinking.
“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason so few engage in it.” ― Henry Ford
“He who thinks little errs much…” ― Leonardo da Vinci
“We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them” ― Albert Einstein
“Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people think they think; and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.” ― Thomas A. Edison
Thinking time is not wasted time. It may very well be the most important time of your week. With that in mind here is another great passage to think on…
Next Week’s Passage: Romans 8:9-17
Memory Verses: Romans 8:1-16