Attitude of the Mind

“This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,” (Eph 4:17 AV)

“And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;” (Eph 4:23 AV)

The vanity of the mind and the spirit of your mind.  The first requires the second.  Vanity of the mind is easy to define and understand.  When something is vain is it profitless.  It is pointless.  Being so often leads to harm.  Therefore, using the mind or being entertained in the mind to no constructive purpose would be a vanity of mind.  But what of the spirit of your mind?  Looking at Strong’s numbers for the word ‘spirit’ is not exactly helpful.  The word used for ‘spirit’ has wide variety of meanings.  It means everything from the Holy Spirit to that which gives animation to the body.  And everything in between.  However, Strong’s Numbers dictionary gives a few of which one has a particular application here.  It means the disposition of the mind.  Strong’s Dictionary runs the whole phrase together to define the word ‘spirit’.  This would agree with, “For to be carnally minded [is] death; but to be spiritually minded [is] life and peace.” (Ro 8:6 AV) Although Paul gives one example of renewing the spirit of the mind, it gives us a general sense of what it means to renew the spirit of the mind as opposed to merely the mind.

When we think of the mind, often we limit it to the ideas or the information that the mind entertains.  Facts, images, ideas, etc are usually what we associate with our minds.  What we do not tend to associate with our minds is our disposition or attitude.  Bias and the condition of the heart have a lot to do with what we choose to think on.  Vanity, spirit, and spiritually are adjectives describing the condition of the mind, or for what one is using it.  Or both.  But it is the spirit of the mind that intrigues me.

I had a great annual physical.  Diabetes runs in my family, so I have been watching my sugar and carbohydrate intake.  At first, I was strictly Keto.  Then came the holidays.  I thought my A1Cs were going to be unacceptable.  However, they dropped from a year ago.  GLORY!  All good news except for one number.  My cholesterol was trending in the wrong direction.  Too many eggs for breakfast, I guess.  One thing that helps good cholesterol is exercise.  Approaching my senior years, that is not a simple thing to do.  When your joints ache and your feet hurt, the last thing you want to do is walk two miles a day.  The disposition of my body was to stay still and enjoy very little pain.  However, if my doctor is watching those numbers and will give me a hard time because of it, then I had better change the spirit of my body and push on through.  The body does what the heart desires.

The same is true of the mind.  To renew the spirit of the mind means to reset the mind to a disposition that pleases God and helps us grow.  What we choose to take in, dwell on, or meditate upon must change.  Even if at first it is boring or a lot of work.  As many of you know, I have taken up German.  I am of German descent, and I have a son who is a missionary in a place where many speak the language.  I wanted to learn to surprise him and to know that I care about his mission field.  We visited this past spring, and the likelihood of returning there becomes slimmer as time passes, but I still hack away at German.  Why?  I need my mind to exercise it in constructive things.  Learning something new is a way to keep the mind young, elastic, and interested.  The spirit of the mind is renewed.  The same is true of reading good Christian material.  At my age, there isn’t much I haven’t heard or learned.  Generally speaking, that is.  So, I read more inspirational material or historical material to keep the mind alive.  Renewing the spirit of the mind is not merely taking in more information.  Renewing the spirit of the mind is readjusting and refocusing the mind on what pleases God and edifies the soul.  Our minds are the gateway into the rest of life.  If we do not care for it, we will lose it.  Perhaps changing the disposition of the mind will help the mind think on edifying things.