How to Control Your Mind

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “A man is what he thinks about all day long.” If so, is our mind becoming more like God? What does the Bible say about how to control your mind?

The other morning I was reading through 1 Peter as part of a Bible study program and came across the verse that instructs us to “gird up the loins of your mind” (1 Peter 1:13).

I had an instant vision of my wedding day. I was finally wearing the dress that I had dreamed of since I was a little girl making my Barbie doll get married to Ken. It was poofy and white and perfect. The joy I felt in holding it off the ground and protecting the most valuable dress I would ever own still feels real four years later. I felt like a queen with a very important task of keeping it clean and safe.

But what does that have to do with “gird”?

How to gird 101

When was the last time you used “gird” in a sentence? It’s not a very common word these days, and I think I’ve only used it when referring to this scripture. The definition of gird is to “fasten, secure, encircle or prepare for action.” It can refer to a soldier getting ready to run quickly. But I also find it helpful to consider it in relation to my attempts to secure and protect my wedding dress.

God gives His chosen ones a knowledge that other human minds, even scholars, have only wished to understand (Matthew 13:17). As the elect of God, do we have a joy in carrying our mind about so that it doesn’t have one speck of dirt on it? Do we love the knowledge we were given so much that we would never want to lose the responsibility it carries?

How to control your mind

There are some things we can do as future kings and priests, and current possessors of a great truth, to keep stability in our thoughts. Here are some steps the Bible gives for how to gird up and control your mind:

• Pray.

By ourselves we are not strong enough to fight every lie Satan would share with us. Sometimes a thought can enter our mind before we even realize where it came from. Thoughts are difficult, because they come from many sources and have many triggers. Once they are there, they don’t want to leave easily.

We can go to the Father of all truth and ask Him to help rid our minds of wrong thoughts. This is not a “genie in the bottle” type of prayer though. It takes effort on our part to change our thinking. That’s why we are commanded to “gird.” We have a part to play in fastening and encircling our mind.

• Fill.

Find ways to saturate your mind with God’s truth. If you are busy pouring good things into your mind, you will see a major change over time. It’s like watering a plant or feeding your body. Growth occurs when you add good things. Here are just a couple ideas:

• Download a sermon to listen to in your car.
• Talk with Church people on the Sabbath but also during the week. Hebrews 3:13 says, “Exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (emphasis added).

Even if you are not personally suffering in your thoughts, your brethren might be. We all need to be in contact with each other on a regular basis so we are strong and in one accord.

• Dump.

As a follower of God, there will be things that you will have to get rid of. During the next week, observe what you are taking in. Are reality TV shows, pop music and coworker conversations your food for the week? Even the news programs filled with political debates are draining.

What time wasters are in your life? What makes you a consumer of this world rather than creating a mind and body that bends to the will of God?

We need to dump the bad and then repeat steps 1 and 2 over and over. It’s a lifelong process of fastening and securing the gift we’ve been given.

Christ warned us not to let anyone steal our crown (Revelation 3:11). The only way someone can steal your crown is if you loosen your grip. How tightly are you holding on and using God’s help to lift yourself up out of this world?

The truth we possess is clean, pure and perfect. With God’s thoughts directing our life, we will find the process of girding our mind a much more winnable battle.

Read more about this in the “Christian Conversion” section of the LifeHopeandTruth.com website.

Sarah Henderson and her husband, Andrew, attend the Columbus/Cambridge, Ohio, congregation of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association.