Mindset Matters
Aug 13, 2024
You hear a lot about mindset these days, and there are scads of books and articles that teach about it. Verywellmind.com defines mindset this way (https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-mindset-2795025):
"Your mindset is a set of beliefs that shape how you make sense of the world and yourself. It influences how you think, feel, and behave in any given situation. It means that what you believe about yourself impacts your success or failure."
Most separate mindset into two categories: Fixed or Growth. A Fixed mindset is a mind that is made up, closed to new ideas, new ways of doing things. "This is just the way I am." or "People don't change."
Growth mindsets are open to new ideas, trying new things. Personality traits and skills can be adapted and changed.
Wisdom suggests that a growth mindset will equip you to succeed in a way that a fixed mindset will not. I've heard it put another way:
"Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right." (Henry Ford)
I was raised with a growth mindset. My dad assured us that "if someone else can, you can, too." He was self-educated, read voraciously, and was something of a Bible scholar. He could figure out how to fix just about anything.
My mom was an interesting mix. "Where there's a will," she'd say, "there's a way." She was convinced that her hard work would produce the results she wanted. Conversely, though, she didn't think any of her children could go to college. "People like us don't get to go to college." She was wrong, I had the will and found the way!
Scripture leads us to a different mindset. Paul wrote, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 2:5) He was convinced that our journey to become like Jesus would include thinking the way He thought. He wrote to the church at Corinth, "
"When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. 14 But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. 15 Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. 16 For,
“Who can know the Lord’s thoughts?
Who knows enough to teach him?”
But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ." (1 Corinthians 2:13-16)
The mind of Christ includes all the Word of God... Can you imagine the wisdom available to you if you have stored it in your mind? The mind of Christ includes His personality and attributes: love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)
Mindset matters... and we have the mind of Christ, available to us only if we are walking and talking with Him His mindset is a choice, an emptying of selfish ambition, of "my way or the highway," and surrendering to the will of the Father. "Not my will, but Thine."
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