“Mindset” is a hot topic in the modern business world…
and rightfully so. I love it when folks who don’t know Christ and don’t even want to, notice things He’s put into effect in the world.
Mindset IS important – especially so for those who are Christ-followers.
And it’s not only applicable in the business world. Mindset affects all of life – from the way you interact with those in your own household to the way you approach things like diet and exercise. The old saying, “It’s all in your head” is true in so many ways.
Doubly-so for Christ followers
The Bible speaks to mindset on almost every page. That’s because mindset is a matter of belief, isn’t it? And that’s what faith is all about.
What do you believe?
- about God
- about yourself
- about the world
- about your role in the world?
- about the obstacles you face?
- about the tragedies that come into your world?
Those are important questions. And how you answer them is vital in determining how you live out your presence in the world.
Mindset is not about “believing in yourself”
That’s because biblically speaking, there’s nothing in YOU to believe in.
Apart from the righteousness of Christ and the presence of His Holy Spirit in your life, there is nothing good in you (Romans 7:18). All the “positive thinking” in the world has no power to change that – or even one circumstance or situation you face.
So what does a Christian mindset about yourself look like?
Mindset is about believing with all that is in you, that what God says – about everything – is what is true. That is the only thing that can TRULY empower your life and business.
That means that seeing the world through God’s eyes (so to speak) is THE ONLY WAY we can ever expect to see reality for what it is. It’s the only way we’ll be able to know what a “success” in life or business looks like. It’s the only way we’ll be able to see His direction, His purposes, His divine purpose for our lives, day to day.
Mindset is NOT important because of some supposed “law of attraction”
The popular notion today – which is nothing more than rehashed heresy of days gone by, is that as you think positively, you attract positive things into your experience and life.
I refer to these types of mindset philosophies as “Cotton Candy” beliefs. They may taste really yummy at first, but the soon dissolve into nothing and give you absolutely no lasting benefit.
So according to this way of thinking, if you believe that you’re going to become wealthy, then you will because wealth will be attracted to you, no matter how little action you take toward becoming wealthy. If you think that you’re a healthy person, then you will be because you’ll attract health to your life – no matter how many white fudge covered Oreos you eat. (One of my favorites).
The truth (according to the Bible) is that THERE IS NO law of attraction, no “law of the universe” that draws positive things to our positive thoughts.
And another thing to be careful of is this: There are “Christian-ized” versions of this foolishness that confuse the issue for many undiscerning disciples. You hear it from people like Joel Osteen, Frederick Price, Benny Hinn, and others. (Yes, I’m one of those people who believes that some of the popular teachers are teaching heresies). I don’t question the motives of these folks, they may actually be true believers, but what they’re teaching is not in accord with scriptural truth – and THAT’s the truth.
Mindset IS important because God’s truth is powerful
I’m baffled as to why any follower of Christ would even want to believe in some “law of attraction.” We’ve got such better promises, such God-sized truth to fuel our mindsets. Here’s just a sampling:
- We are new creations
- We are more than conquerors
- We are indwelt by the very Spirit of God Himself
- We have the power to be free of the sin that has held us back so long
- And many, many, many more.
So what’s the problem? Why would we settle for so little when we’ve been given so much? Perhaps it’s because we don’t KNOW what we’ve been given.
Success in life or business is not about learning to believe in yourself or in some universal law that promises prosperity and positive situations. Success in life and business starts with a commitment to knowing and living God’s truth.
God’s truth – not ours – or anyone else’s.
Developing a Christ-honoring, personally empowering mindset
I’m a straight-shooter so I’m not going to sugar coat this. Developing a biblical mindset is hard work. Very hard work.
It requires at least these things:
- Learning what God says about Himself, you, and the world. These are fundamental to the process. Without God’s clear revelation of truth you won’t have a hope of putting solid ground under your beliefs. Instead, you’ll become vulnerable to the popular notions of the day and even outright wrong thinking. So, if you’re going to work toward establishing a biblical, and therefore God-inspired mindset, you’l have to make a daily priority of reading what He has revealed to you.
- Convincing yourself that what God says is true. That may sound funny, but it’s true. There’s something in us (sin) that causes us to doubt even what God Himself says to be true. This is especially true if what He says seems to not square with our perception or experiences. That means that we have to daily set aside the time to meditate on what we read in His word. He will bring understanding if we seek it.
- Looking for areas of your present mindset that do not conform to God’s truth. This is perhaps the hardest work of all because the things that make up our current mindset are often blind-spots to us. You’ll need to devote some time to prayer or the help of trusted allies to work through this one. Your spouse or a good friend are the best candidates, or you may want to enlist the help of a biblically grounded life or business coach. As you explore the way you’ve always thought about things you’re going to discover lies you’ve been believing that have held you back from God’s best – and that’s when things start to get exciting.
- Removing your lie-based daily habits. Without exception, the lies you’ve believed have produced destructive habits in your life. They are habits of feeling or action – or both. So with the help of that trusted ally you need to identify those unhelpful daily habits and expose them for the lies they are.
- Write out the lie you’ve been believing then draw an arrow leading from it to a blank space on the page.
- At the point of that arrow, write out the habit that has come about as a result of that lie. Then move on to the next step.
- Establishing new truth-based daily habits. If you don’t replace your old destructive habits with new, life-giving ones you’ll soon slide right back into your old ways of thinking and acting. That’s because God didn’t design our souls to be a vacuum. We need to fill ourselves with His truth and deliberately build the actions that correspond to it.
- Draw another arrow from the destructive habit to another blank space on the page.
- At the point of that arrow, write out the truth of God that you’re going to believe in order to fuel your new habit. Draw another arrow from that truth to another blank space.
- Write out the new habit you’re going to establish through daily repetition and diligent practice.
An example of this is provided below:
This is the only way to develop a mindset that will never fail
Why?Because it’s based entirely on God’s truth. There’s nothing “iffy” or “cotton candy”-ish about it. It is as solid as the ground underneath you feet, and far more reliable.
You’re safe to build confidently on what God says. You can trust it.
Watch for more thoughts on mindset and learn how you can build on this simple exercise to create powerful, life-transforming, business-building mindsets of your own.
I’d love to interact with you about this concept… feel free to comment below.