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“Fighting Against Our Own Minds”
Categories: Christian character, Sunday Family Report articles, wisdom
In Christian bookstores, you can often look over the new releases and get a sense of what’s happening in the broader world of all that’s called ‘Christian.' I did that recently at Focus of the Family Bookstore, and here are some of the titles:
- Take Your Life Back; How To Stop Letting the Past and Other People Control You
- I Shouldn’t Feel This Way; Name What’s Hard, Tame Your Guilt, and Transform Self-Sabotage into Brave Action
- I Declare War; 4 Keys To Winning The Battle With Yourself
- The Bondage Breaker; Overcoming Negative Thoughts, Irrational Feelings, Habitual Sins
- Neighbor, Love Yourself; Discover Your Value, Live Your Worth
- Take Back Your Life; A 40-Day Interactive Journey To Thinking Right So You Can Live Right
What’s the common factor here? They’re all promising to help re-gain control of our thoughts; to help us overcome difficult things like guilt, regret, comparison, and tension. They all promise that if we follow the steps, we’ll be free from what’s negative inside us. It says a lot about our cultural moment when this is what Christian writers and publishers know people will buy in order to find help.
What’s the real solution to a mind that is anxious, frustrated, regretful, and restless? What will all the ideas in those books boil down to if they’re correct? Ultimately, they’ll be rehearsing truths from God. Truths such as, ‘Don’t be anxious; trust God’ (cf. Mt. 6:25-34), and ‘Believe it when God says you’re forgiven’ (cf. 1 Jn. 2:12), and “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Tm. 1:7).
What can we do to gain and maintain control of our minds? Ultimately, we gain control by surrendering control—by becoming so thoroughly indoctrinated with God’s ways that “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). Only that will win the battle over self.
- Dan Lankford, minister
