Right Thinking

“I want to know God’s thoughts… the rest are details.”  Albert Einstein

Think well.  Sometimes, it means changing our thinking, learning to think new and better, right thoughts. Sometimes the only way to change or elevate our thinking requires us to replace thoughts of fear, anxiety, worry, and guilt with the freeing truths from God’s heart—for after all, his Word contains his heart and mind toward us. 

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things¹ ~ the verb ‘set’ means simply put, lay or stand (something) in a specified place or position.  Notice that the word ‘set’ involves intention.  Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above… because what we choose to think about defines us.

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  Learn to think God’s thoughts after him.  The whole notion of thinking God’s thoughts after him has me riveted!  Honestly, every time I read the phrase, it grabs me … of course, it is the ultimate in right thinking.  After all, God is omniscient: he possesses all knowledge, he knows everything perfectly and eternally—all things which can be known, past, present, and future …

Where to start with learning to think God’s thoughts? ‘An acknowledgment that, as he said, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”²   Beginning with the understanding that he is God and we are not, we put the highest value on his thinking and ways, and we earnestly desire to know them.  

Thus, in the beginning, God … and since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.³   Ponder, study the Creator, who he is, and what he is like.  How I love the beauty of God’s handiwork!  I feel his pleasure when I watch a hummingbird, busy at one of my garden feeders; and I smile when I see the orioles flit around in my birdbath, or rest for some nourishment at another feeder.  Then again, when considering the creative, there are the intense colors and fragrances of roses and lilies … such striking colors!

I often walk along the beach trail along the Pacific Ocean and marvel at the power of the crashing waves, one after another. The mind of a brilliant Creator spoke the waves into being.  Overhead, the pelicans fly in a loose formation against a backdrop of wispy clouds.

How to know God’s mind, beyond that of a Creator?  Get to know his Son.  Think of the love Jesus taught and modeled in the pages of the gospels.  Think of the strength and courage of Jesus Christ, and the brilliance of his mind.  How to know God’s thoughts?  Read the printed Word of God, his love letter to us, and communicate with him . . . pray!  Talk to him, and ask him to speak to you.  Listen.  Create space for him to inhabit with you.  Long to feel his presence.  ‘He will be found by you when you seek him with all your heart.’⁴   Set your minds on things above . . . by seeking to think God’s thoughts after him for they are the highest of thoughts—different than the esoteric thoughts of the worldly wise or those who consider themselves intellectually superior.

Setting your mind on things above, choosing to think higher thoughts takes training, and training of any worthwhile kind is hard work.  People will train for two years to run a marathon; then again, training our bodies is more popular than training our minds.  Paul did not back away from the challenge:  “I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should…”⁵   To be sure, training the mind takes discipline, but the effort is more than worthwhile!  Setting our minds on things above, choosing right thinking, isn’t overly complicated, but it is a discipline, and will need to be cultivated and refined.  I love the word and the notion of discipline, because it paves the way for us to become who we are meant to be.

Intentionally, think about the creative mind of your God today by taking time to look at the colors in a sunset, the effortless freedom of birds in flight.  Look closely at the intricate design of petals in a flower, and her varied shades too.  Take a closer look at a tiny baby on the street … and muse about how Jesus himself looks and thinks of all of these.  He smiles, don’t you think?  He also thinks of you, dear one, and the home he is preparing for you⁶. . .  never forget that this world is not your home—you are just passin’ through.    Intentionally think some higher thoughts, some right thoughts, today.

1 – Colossians 3.2

2 – Isaiah 55.8-9

3 – Romans 1.20

4 – Jeremiah 29.13

5 – 1 Corinthians 9.27

6 – John 14.3