Weekly Words with Brandon Moore- The Cure for a Warped Mind
Queen’s University in Canada ran a study recently and found that the average person has just over 6,000 thoughts per day. Now, if you think that’s a lot. Remember, it’s an average. I can attest from experience that a 19-year-old boy might be way under that 6,000 mark, while the wonderful 19-year-old girl he planned to marry was way over that 6,000 mark. Jackie would often ask me what I was thinking about (probably because I had a blank stare on my face), to which I would reply with complete honesty, "Nothing." There are obviously varying factors in how much a person thinks.
However, 6,000 is a lot.
The real question, though, isn’t, “How many thoughts are we having?” It’s, “What are we thinking about?”
The passage from last week is Titus 3:8-11. I didn’t preach. Frederick LaLanne and Matt Barber preached in Middle and Secondary, respectively.
On days I don’t preach there’s a sense of freedom with the devotional. I don’t have to prepare an entire sermon, just a tidbit on the passage before us. And that’s exactly what I’ve done today.
Paul ends the section by describing a person who is divisive. They like to fight, stir up theological controversies, and the words that come out of their mouth are in general, worthless. He describes that person was “warped” and “sinful.”
Now, some of you probably fit that category. You’re warped and sinful. You speak ill of people and you’ve made a profession out of being a gossip. This passage would call you to repentance.
However, I don’t want to speak to that group of people.
I want to speak to the group of people who are trying really hard to stay faithful but seem to have difficulty with their thoughts.
Maybe you have thoughts of hate?
Thoughts of gossip?
Thoughts of self-condemnation?
Thoughts of lust?
Thoughts of despair?
Jealousy?
Envy?
Maybe it feels like you’re mind is out of control and it’s cutting off everything that could be spiritually good in you?
If that’s you, we’re going to take this passage, along with a few others, and look at 4 steps to “Cure A Warped Mind.”
1. Bring your thought life to God and confess them to Him. (Isaiah 55:7)
It’s common to think that God is going to be pretty upset with us if we let Him in on our deepest darkest thoughts. However, two things.
First, He already knows your thoughts. It does no good hiding them.
Second, who do you think wants you to keep your thoughts from God? God or Satan?
The very reason you’re stuck in a cycle of egregious thoughts might be because you won’t go to God with your thoughts.
2. Ask God to search your heart and mind. (Psalm 139:23-24)
Our thoughts are a product of our heart. The thought you were just caught off guard by has been growing beneath the surface for some time now. Like a weed that shoots up out of seemingly nowhere in a garden, your thoughts will shoot up in a similar fashion but from your heart.
After you confess the thoughts you’re aware of, ask Him to search your heart and show you more about what’s going on beneath the surface. Once you see how gross it is, confess that too.
3. Begin taking every thought captive. (2 Corinthians 10:5)
THe most effective way to get rid of weeds in a garden is to pluck them up as soon as you see them. Those jokers multiply overnight.
The same is true with our thoughts. As soon as we have one that does not honor or glorify God, we must grab onto it, pluck it up, confess it, and set our minds elsewhere.
4. Set your mind elsewhere. (Colossians 3:1-4)
The Bible is pretty consistent on this command: “Look to Jesus.”
Why is that?
Well, what we set our mind on, we consume.
What we consume, we start to be like.
This is why social media is so harmful. Some of us are shallow thinkers, negative speakers, and thrill-seekers because our TikTok feeds are full of that kind of content. We’ve been discipled by TikTok.
The Bible calls us to “set our minds on Christ,” and we do that by “looking to Jesus.”
No one wins a war by only playing defense.
Your mind is under attack by your three enemies: Your Flesh, The World, and Satan. You need to treat your mind like the precious commodity that God believes it is. You need to play offense by actively setting your mind on Jesus.
5. Lastly, concentrate on devoting yourself to good works. (Titus 3:8)
In our passage, Paul says, “...be careful to devote [yourselves] to good works.”
The word “be careful” there is phrontizō which means to consider, think, reflect, or be intent on. It could have also been translated “concentrate on.” A very modern, thought-for-thought translation of Paul’s statement could be this:
“...Those who have believed in God must concentrate on and think about devoting themselves to good works.”
In many ways, to course correct our minds, we need to follow Paul’s repentance pattern from Ephesians 4.
Confess and forsake the evil thoughts. (Warped thoughts)
Set our minds on the good thoughts. (On Jesus)
Set our minds on supernatural thoughts. (On being a servant/doing good works)
A mind consumed with Jesus and doing good works inside a person who is actively setting their minds in that direction is not a mind that will wander off into sinful and frivolous thoughts for very long. If you are in Christ, you have been raised from the dead mentally, spiritually, physically (one day), and emotionally. The Holy Spirit is inside you and by His grace and power you can work alongside the Holy Spirit to function with a resurrected mind rather than a warped sinful one.
But, it takes exactly that, work.
Many of us are broken-hearted over the way our minds work. Understandably so. It makes it doubly hard when we believe God is so upset with us because of our thought-life that He wants nothing to do with us. Can I remind you of two passages before we’re done here?
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
–Psalm 38:14
Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.
–Proverbs 28:13
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and ready to give mercy to the person who confesses and forsakes their sin. Your first step, no matter where you’re at today, is to draw near to Him with a humble heart. He’ll accomplish the work He’s already begun in you. (Philippians 1:6)