Winning the Ongoing Battle for the Mind

“A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” That popular advertising slogan of years past still rings true today. What we think, how we think, and the things that fill our minds make a tremendous difference in how we conduct our lives and what we experience: Our successes, failures, and attitudes.

 

I’ve heard many experts make reference to a “battle for the mind,” and there’s little doubt such a mental tug-of-war exists. Consider the potential influences: We have social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and new entries almost every week. Then we have TV – network, cable and the many streaming services that are emerging – not only the news and commentaries, but also the “entertainment” that shapes our culture and worldviews.

We have a plethora of print media, not only local and national newspapers, but also magazines designed to appeal to any interest and taste. A casual glance at any of them can reveal the values and biases they espouse. Even video games, literally at our fingertips, can have a significant impact on our minds.

 

The political scene has become so sharply divided it’s often hard to believe opposing parties are talking about the same things. It seems increasingly difficult to find common ground for civil discourse. And in many of our colleges and universities, the curricula for many disciplines are infused with political ideology. So yes, we’re engaged in a fierce battle for the mind.

 

What are we to do? Attempting to debate or reason on social media seems pointless. We can protest in different ways, but even how those are understood and reported can be distorted. I sometimes write letters to the editor, but I’ve yet to hear anyone say, “Wow, after reading what you said, I’ve changed my thinking entirely.”

 

I’ve concluded that even though I can’t control the way the world thinks, I can prevent it from controlling and molding the way I think. I like what the late Indian leader and human rights activist Mohandas Gandhi used to say: “I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.” What a vivid image!

 

The Scriptures have much to say about what we allow to influence our minds. Romans 12:1-2 speaks powerfully to this: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind….” I like the wording from one paraphrase of this passage: “Don’t let the world press you into its mold.”

 

Years ago I became convicted about the types of books I was reading. Some were in the genre of horror fiction, and while I found those entertaining, I had to admit they were taking my mind into realms of the occult and evil that were not healthy. When I asked my pastor about them, he wisely replied, “Well, when you read those books, are they pointing you toward the Lord – or away from Him?”

 

Exhorting believers in the church at Philippi, the apostle Paul expressed his concern that they also needed vigilantly keep their minds focused in the right direction: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – thing about such things”(Philippians 4:8).

 

This doesn’t suggest adopting a Pollyanna attitude, ignoring negative influences around us, but making certain we don’t let them dominate our thinking. As an old friend of mind used to say, “I can’t stop the birds from flying overhead, but I can keep them from building a nest in my hair.”

 

Perhaps King David shared this concern about the “battle for the mind,” because in one of his psalms he asked and answered his own question: “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:9-11).

 

Another resource the Lord gives to ensure our thinking is clear and right is the counsel of other trusted friends and colleagues. Proverbs 19:20 says, “Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.” And if we don’t? Another verse offers this warning: “Stop listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge” (Proverbs 19:27).

 

The battle for our minds is real; it will continue, whether we like it or not. But God has given us the means for remaining on the victorious side. We just need to take full advantage of them. 

Learning to Go Faster By Going Slower

Someone has said a definition of an athletic contest, whether a football, soccer or basketball game, is thousands of spectators in desperate need of exercise watching skilled athletes in desperate need of rest.

That sums it up well, especially for couch potatoes in comfortable couches and chairs, snacks and drinks close by – cheering for favorite teams and grumbling if they fail to meet expectations. Never mind all the effort expended by players leading up to the game; all that matters is whether they win or lose.  

But for many of us, overwhelmed by our hectic lifestyles, the scenario shifts dramatically when it’s not game day. Then we’re the ones running to the point of exhaustion, disregarding the need to take a breath and get some rest. We try to defy physics by proving we can be in several places at one time. Overuse of technology has turned frenetic “multi-tasking” into a hideous art form. 

However, the problem of “rush, rush, and more rush” is hardly new. And not unique to American society. Mahatma Gandhi, the revered human rights activist and leader of India’s non-violent independence movement in the early 1900s, said, “There is more to life than merely increasing the speed.” He said that long before anyone knew anything about smartphones, email, texting, Siri and Alexa! 

Author and contemplative David Steindl-Rast offered another global perspective about humankind’s fascination with busyness: “The Chinese character or pictograph for ‘busy’ is composed of two characters: ‘Heart’ and ‘Killing.’” How’s that for a graphic image?

Any lumberjack worth his splinters knows a key to efficient tree cutting is pausing at times to make certain the axe is always sharp. Chopping fast with a dull blade is counterproductive. Some of us, enamored with jam-packed, stress-filled schedules, have little time to pause to “sharpen our blade.” Before we can appreciate one event or achievement, we’re sprinting off to the next one. You know the adage about taking time to smell the flowers? We’re moving so fast, we don’t even notice any flowers to sniff.

This is one reason God places emphasis on rest, including the designation of a sabbath day. Following the Creation account in Genesis 1, we read in Genesis 2:2, “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing, so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”

Imagine: After creating the entire universe, including the world in which we live and everything in it, God Himself called a timeout. Being all-powerful, it wasn’t because He was tired. But it was a good time for smelling the flowers He had made, enjoying a sunrise and sunset, and listening to His creatures flying and frolicking everywhere. Why exert so much effort and creativity if you can’t enjoy it?

The Lord found it so refreshing, He decided to include rest-taking as one of His commandments: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God…” (Exodus 20:8-10).

For some, the Ten Commandments are restrictive, archaic rules established by a spoilsport God who doesn’t want us to have any fun. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus offered some clarification when legalistic religious leaders challenged His disciples’ activities in the Sabbath day. He said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). In other words, the Lord established a day for rest as a gift, not an imposition. 

Somehow, many of us in our society have lost the appreciation for rest, for healthful relaxing that’s not immersed in just another form of non-stop activity. That’s probably why we repeatedly find admonitions in the Scriptures to “be still” and “rest.” As Isaiah 58:13-14 tells us, “If you call the Sabbath a delight…then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth.”

The writer of Ecclesiastes, who allowed himself to experience every human pleasure imaginable, including material abundance, understood the pointlessness of endless human endeavor: “Better is one handful of tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after wind” (Ecclesiastes 4:6).

And King David, who had plenty of demands to occupy his days and nights, also learned the virtues of peace and rest. “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone, my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken” (Psalm 62:5-6). 

Do you sometimes find yourself “weary and heavy-laden,” as the old hymn expresses it? Perhaps even right now? Maybe consciously, deliberately choosing to take time to rest, rather than adding one more item to your already overflowing to-do list, is what you need. 

The place where you find that rest, to make a much-needed “pit stop” in the midst of your race, is up to you. But make sure not to leave God out of the process. “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him” (Psalm 37:7). “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). Because after all, Father knows best.

The Business of Busyness

Busyness: Making great time, but do we know where we're going?

Busy. Busy. Busy. That’s the way to describe many of us: “Soccer moms” shuttling their children from one activity to another, packing as much as possible into as little time as possible. Multi-taskers testing themselves to see how many things they can work on at one time. Travelers rushing from airline to baggage claim to rental car, braced for series of important business meetings before turning around and reversing their itinerary. No question, we're busy folks.

But this business of busyness is hardly new. Decades ago, long before email and the Internet, cell phones and texting, Mahatma Gandhi stated, “There is more to life than merely increasing its speed.” And author and thinker David Steindl-Rast pointed out, “The Chinese character or pictograph for ‘busy’ is composed of two characters: ‘heart’ and ‘killing.’” Ponder that image for a moment.

I think it was writer Patrick Morley who first observed, “The only problem with being in the rat race is that the rat always wins.”

This isn’t to say having lots of things to do is necessarily bad. It sure beats having absolutely nothing to do. Most of us enjoy being active, and we like feeling productive and useful. But when, instead of forgetting to stop and smell the roses, we find ourselves not even noticing whether there are any roses to stop and smell, maybe our busyness is starting to overwhelm us.

So what we need, to counteract this impulse to live frenetic, virtually out of control lives, is some balance. As Ecclesiastes 3:1 asserts, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity (purpose) under heaven.” That would tell us instead of perpetually hustling about, shouting to all who will listen, “I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m making great time!” it would be good to intentionally slow down long enough to consider – even reevaluate – what we’re doing, and why.

I remember times at work when the assignment seemed to require acting first and thinking later. But taking the time to plan can save time and often, lots of headaches that come from unplanned, unanticipated consequences. Proverbs 21:5 says, “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.” I don’t know about you, but I’ll opt for profit over poverty any day.

When we’re overly busy, flying from one commitment to the next, barely having enough time to catch a breath in between, the likelihood of achieving the desired outcome is greatly diminished. Kind of like a swimmer diving into the pool without first finding out what event she’s competing in. This holds true at work, in our homes, even in community and church activities. Maybe that’s why Proverbs 19:2 tells us, “It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.”

Just the other day I was sitting at an intersection, awaiting the turn signal so I could proceed. Watching the oncoming traffic, I saw several people eagerly texting, keeping one eye on the road (if that) and one eye on the smart phone screen. Busy people, oblivious to the fact that at any moment the drivers in front of them could make sudden moves for which they’d be ill-prepared to respond, distracted as they were. Proverbs talks about that, too. “The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it” (Proverbs 27:12).

But we don’t have to be racing along the roadways, scampering through airports, or running from one meeting to another to be busy. Our minds are constantly whirring, pondering a seemingly endless array of topics, problems and worries. Once again, the Scriptures warn us, for God’s sake – literally – slow down. “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him…” (Psalm 37:7).

Being busy isn’t a sin, but if busyness has become our continual state of being, this might be a good time to slow down. If we let ourselves become tyrannized by the urgent, we risk missing something important.

A Fan…Or A Follower?

For ducks, and people, being a fan is different from being a follower. 

A few years ago Kyle Idleman wrote Not a Fan. In this book he explains the difference between being a fan of something and being a follower. The distinction, as Idleman points out, is critical.

Most of us consider ourselves fans of someone or something. We might have a favorite author whose books we avidly read, or a singer or musical group whose recordings we buy as soon as they’re released. We might be a fan of a comic strip that makes us chuckle each day. We can be fans of specific media celebrities, fashion designers, politicians, TV shows, even restaurants.

Of course, many of us are ardent, even diehard, fans of one or more sports teams. People that know me have no doubt I’m a fan – bordering on “fanatic” – of the Ohio State Buckeyes, especially during football and basketball seasons. I’ve also been a fan of various pro sports teams through the years, although my devotion toward those hasn’t been nearly as constant.

And that’s the point: A fan might be an enthusiastic admirer, but that can change over time. Rooting for a certain NFL team, for example, doesn’t require a lifetime commitment. You might like the team because of a particular player, but when that player leaves the team, you abandon it to cheer for another. Or if the team fails to meet your expectations, you can easily jump off the bandwagon and root for another.

To be a follower, on the other hand, involves more than being passionate, since passion can fade. It requires being fully devoted, completely committed to what the one you’re following stands for, whether it be an individual, institution or ideology, even willing to submit to a higher authority.

This is why Idleman posed the question to people professing to be Christians: Are you a follower of Jesus, or just a fan?

We live in a society where many people express admiration for Jesus Christ, the model He provided through His life, along with the principles and values He taught. Mahatma Gandhi was a great fan of Christ, but not one of His followers. Gandhi famously commented, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

Frankly, Gandhi had a good point. In his day, as well as today, many that have claimed to be Christians demonstrate by their lives they are fans, but not followers. Because Jesus calls His followers to radical devotion and commitment, not merely cheering from the sidelines. 

Jesus often said outrageous, even perplexing things, once telling a self-assured, rich young ruler that if he wanted to be His follower, first he had to sell all of his worldly possessions and give the proceeds to the poor. “Then you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Matthew 19:21). This young man, whom the passage describes as having “great possessions,” didn’t like this idea, so he left Jesus and went away sorrowful.  

After another series of challenging statements, Jesus found a number of curious hangers-on reconsidering the value of following Him. “From that time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him” (John 6:66). (Isn’t it interesting that the numbers of this verse are 6-6-6?)

But Jesus never wavered in the demands He made of those desiring to be with Him. He wasn’t recruiting Facebook “friends” or trying to see how many “likes” He could collect. Jesus was straight-forward, insisting that His followers die to themselves, their desires and aspirations, and go as He led them: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

The question I’ve asked myself, one worth asking again from time to time, is simple: When it comes to Jesus, am I a follower – or just a fan?