Protect Your Mind II Cor. 4: 3-5 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
If you are lost, you must protect your mind from blindness. The devil blinds the minds of them that believe not [2 Cor 4:4]. You protect your mind by believing what the Bible says and by getting saved. But once you are saved, you’re not out of the woods. You must continue to protect your mind from the following:
A Faint mind – Heb 12:3, read Heb 12:1-4. You must lay aside every weight and besetting sin and must run with patience your race, keeping your eyes on Jesus, and striving against sin. You cannot faint in this endurance race.
A Doubtful mind – Lk 12:29, read Lk 12:29-31. Be careful because this passage is particularly Jewish, but the admonition is to seek first the Kingdom of God. Sometimes you may doubt that you are where God wants you to be because your earthly provisions are not what you want them to be. You think God is not meeting your needs. And these thoughts cause doubt in your mind. God’s will is not determined by how he is meeting your expectations. Seek the Kingdom of God first; he’ll provide. There is so much to learn in difficult circumstances.
A Carnal mind – Rom 8:6-7, read Rom 8:5-8. Your carnal mind will mislead you. And it can be so hard to discern, on the part of the person who thinks carnally, that he is not thinking spiritually. This is what Paul calls the vanity of your mind [Eph 4:17-19]. When you think carnally, your understanding is darkened, you are alienated from the life of God, you are ignorant, your heart is blind, and you end up giving yourself over to lasciviousness.
A Double mind – Jas 1:8 – Hoffmeister said this is a man whose heart and mind are not in sync. In addition, a double minded man’s prayer requests [Jas 1:6-7] conflict over what he truly desires, the Lord’s will or his own will. He can’t tell because he is unstable in all his ways. His mental instability affects his life’s stability. Everything is thrown out of balance and even his prayers go unanswered.
A Defiled mind – Titus 1:15-16 resulting in abomination and disobedience. This world is filled with defiling influences and you must safeguard your mind from every defiling thought and image that comes your way.
A Reprobate mind – Rom 1:28 – read the downward spiral in Rom 1:21-31. Without going into detail, the world is after the minds of our young people. There are Christians who decide that they do not want to retain God in their knowledge when they are in high school or in college. And when this happens, they often end up with reprobate minds and become involved in the multitude of sins listed in this text.
Conclusion: one of the greatest safeguards God has given you is a church full of likeminded people. Paul exhorted us to be of the same mind [1 Cor 1:10; Phil 2:1-4]. When your mind is affected by one or more of these wicked influences, you are prone to judge that you are right and everybody else is wrong. Strife enters your heart and you condemn others. When God has given you likeminded pastors and a church full of people who love you, don’t think for a minute that what has entered your mind is of God, when it is contrary to the sound doctrine of the Bible and of the church. This body is here to help protect your mind with sound judgment.