Dr. Dan Hayden •
Do you have an attitude? Well, that’s what we say about someone who is really bad, or who is strongly opinionated about something. But in another sense, everybody has an attitude. It’s how you frame things with your mind.
When I talk about your mind today, I’m talking about how you think about things; the attitude you have toward what is happening around you.
Philippians 4:7 says that if you take your anxieties and give them to God in prayer, the result will be “…and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” The peace of God will not only guard your heart (your emotions and your feelings), it will also guard your mind.
This is the Greek word for mind is nous, and while it can mean “understanding and intellect,” here it has the idea of “your thought process, your attitude toward what you’re thinking about, how you frame your thoughts.”
There is a part of your mind that puts a spin on the experiences of life. You see it as either good or bad, helpful or hurtful, desirable or undesirable. Politicians understand this, and they even try to use it to their advantage. They hire “spin doctors” who take the facts and give them a certain kind of twist to make them appear more favorable toward the politician.
Now God simply helps you put the facts into their proper perspective. When you lay a matter before the Lord in your prayers, and trust Him to care for you in what is happening, He gives you a positive attitude. You see the same situation differently and you realize that you no longer have to worry. It’s in the hands of God. The peace of God “guards your mind.” You have an attitude of trust and your mind is at peace.
So, do you have a restless mind, or is it guarded by the peace of God?