Dangerous Minds

The show, "Dangerous Minds", is one of my favorites. One of the themes of the show is that the unsub starts out with small stuff and escalates until he or she is caught, becoming even more and more vile in what he or she does.

Today I was thinking about this, and realized that's how all sin is. We all have 'dangerous minds'! Our sin starts out small, a candy bar stolen from a store, a small bit of gossip told to a friend, or a dislike of another. It tastes sweet in the beginning, but soon, we become immune to the caliber of our sin and have to escalate it. Soon we find ourselves delving deeper and deeper into our sin, unable to stop.

One current example is Tiger Woods. I'm sure he never intended to have so many affairs when he met the love of his life and settled down to raise a family, but the pattern had already begun, and he couldn't stop himself until he was caught.

Only time will tell if Tiger will change his ways, but it will not be an easy road. His sin has left a wide swath of devastation behind him. Maybe you didn't get caught having multiple affairs, but your sin, whatever it is, is just as devastating. It harms you, true, but it also harms all those in your path. Sin is destructive, and it always escalates if left unchecked.

The battle with sin doesn't begin with the sin; it begins in the mind with a thought. Now thinking something is not a sin, but dwelling on it is. Our potential for action begins in our thought life and escalates until it becomes action. That's one reason God tells us that hatred is the same as murder and lust is the same as adultery. It is by controlling our thoughts that we control our actions.

This is why the battle for the mind is so important. In the flesh, we have dangerous minds that tend to sin and death. When we accept Christ as our Savior, we gain a new mind: the mind of Christ. Unfortunately, even though the dangerous mind is dead, it still fights with us as we seek to gain the mind of Christ. Paul puts it well when he says he does the things he doesn't want to do and doesn't do the things he wants to do. If Paul struggled, who are we to think we will not?

One way we put to death the dangerous mind and attain the glorious mind is to keep our focus on Christ and the things above. In Colossians 3:2, God tells us to "Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth." In other words, don't allow things into your mind that will feed the dangerous mind.

We put the dangerous mind to death in our lives by starving it to death. Which ever mind we feed, whether our dangerous mind or our glorious mind, will be the one to grow. Which one are you feeding? What are some things in your life that "feed" your dangerous mind?

In Colossians 3:12-17, it says "So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all those things, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful." These are the things that feed the mind of Christ in us and allow us to put the dangerous mind to death.

PUT ON: A heart of compassion,
A heart of kindness,
A heart of humility,
A heart of gentleness,
A heart of patience.

Bear with one another; forgive one another; and above all:

PUT ON: LOVE, unity, thankfulness and

let the peace of Christ RULE in your hearts.

There is no room for two minds; one will destroy the other, the cannot coexist. Letting God's peace and love grow in you puts to death the dangerous mind and grows the Christ mind. Every time you choose compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, love, forgiveness, love, unity and thankfulness, you feed the glorious mind.

Which mind will you feed today?