Cultivating a Pure Heart & Mind of Christ
Top & Bottoms: H&M, Shoes: Nike Blazers, Glow: God :)
In my last post, we talked about the impact of what you consume with your eyes and ears on your mind and heart. We saw through scripture and biblical principles that what is in our heart affects our perception of reality which impacts our actions. However, God does not judge us by our actions alone. Instead, He judges us by the state of our heart that influenced those actions. For more on that, I highly recommend giving my last blog post a read. In this post, I will dig deeper into that topic and outline a few ways that we as believers can be intentional about cultivating a pure heart and mind that is truly like that of Jesus Christ:
Ask God for a pure heart - it's easy to assume that our hearts are already pure but the reality is that we are all likely holding onto things that make it difficult for us to see God clearly. It’s imperative that we explicitly ask God to transform our hearts so they can actually be pure. We see examples of such requests in Psalm 51:10 and Psalm 139:23-24. Knowing that we cannot manufacture pure hearts in our own strength and humbling ourselves to ask God for help is step one in this process.
Watch what you eat - any health professional will tell you that what you eat is directly linked to the health of your physical heart. How much more the health of your heart in the spiritual sense? If we constantly feed ourselves with that which does not glorify God, the spiritual health of our hearts will begin to suffer. Have you ever watched a show, listened to a song, or read a book that changed how you felt emotionally or influenced your worldview? For most, the answer to this question is yes. If that is the case for you, then you’ve experienced firsthand how the media you consume can actually have a lasting, transformational effect on your heart and your mind. Armed with this knowledge, it is wise to implement restrictions around what you consume with your ears and/or eyes to protect your heart from that which opposed Christ-like character
Confront your past - There are experiences in our past that may have impacted our hearts in a negative way so much so that we are unable to allow God to completely transform and purify our hearts. For some, constant rejection during your youth has caused you to develop a heart that is so hardened to the idea of being loved by God, people, or even yourself. For others, one traumatic experience transformed your view of God's creation to the point that you no longer perceive reality through the lens of God’s Truth, but rather the lies of the enemy. My encouragement to you? Look back at those experiences that have shaped you and examine how those experiences have impacted your heart. Take those experiences to the Lord in prayer. Go to therapy. Confide in your community. Seek counsel from your trusted spiritual leaders (the ones who know you in real life and see you weekly) and mentors. And most of all, yield to the Holy Spirit as He works in you to heal, transform and purify your heart until you become exactly who you were created to be.
Take charge over your thought life - Remember the first scripture that I shared in this post? Proverbs 23:7 which reads “...for as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” What you think will inevitably shape who you are…just meditate on that for a second. If you constantly think about how good God is, how much He loves you, how true His Word is, then you will inevitably become more like the Son, Jesus Christ. However, if you allow thoughts of worry, offense, guilt, shame, anger, fear, anxiety or rejection to constantly dominate your thoughts, then you will inevitably be shaped by these things into someone very different from who God has called you to be. Taking charge over your thought life may feel impossible as it is a common belief that we cannot control our thoughts but I have to disagree simply because the word of God makes it clear that I can control my thoughts – and so can you.
Reason 1: “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” - Philippians 4:8 NKJV
Reason 2: “casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” - 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 NKJV
Reason 3: “So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.” - Romans 8:6 NLT
When you feel your thoughts veering off into what is not aligned with Philippians 4:8 (a basic rubric for what thoughts are allowed in your mind), pray 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 over yourself immediately, right there, in that moment, regardless of where you are or what your doing. Then using Philippians 4:8 again as rubric, think of something that is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, virtuous, praiseworthy and of good report. You don’t have to look far. Maybe it's a scripture that you read during your quiet time, or something your pastor said in a sermon, or that encouraging word that came from your loved one. Whatever it is, just make sure it is within your thought rubric. Why? Because as Romans 8:6 says, “letting the [Holy] Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.” These scriptures together show that God has given us authority over our thoughts and it is up to us to walk in that authority (with the help of the Holy Spirit) taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and letting the Holy Spirit rule in our minds.
