“Col. 3:1   If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. ³ For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Col. 3:5   Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. ⁶ On account of these the wrath of God is coming. ⁷ In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. ⁸ But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. ⁹ Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. ¹¹ Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

Col. 3:12   Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, ¹³ bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ¹⁴ And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. ¹⁵ And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:1-17, English Standard Version)

A mindset can be a habitual way of thinking about God, ourselves, other people, or the universe. However, a mindset needs to be frequently updated and renewed. And, of course, sometimes certain mindsets need to be abandoned. In any case, a mindset does not necessarily mean that our minds are set in concrete.

Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, reminds believers that their minds should be on Jesus Christ. This might suggest that their minds had a tendency to wander off in other directions. Wandering minds: I’m sure glad that my mind never wanders! (If you think that I was speaking ironically, let me remove any doubt. I was indeed!)

Paul uses a present tense Greek verb in verse 2. The present tense in Greek usually suggests some kind of continual, regular, or repeated action. “Continually set your minds on the things in Heaven, on Christ.”

Now, I can’t speak for you, but for me, I am always having to reset my mindset. Why? Because my mind keeps coming unset. Perhaps some people are able to set a course and stay the course, but I suspect that even those people need a lot of midcourse corrections.

How does a body go about changing their mindset for the better? I wish I knew. However, I’ll give you a few of my suspicions.

Suspicion #1: Prayer is one way to renew an appropriate, healthy mindset. Prayer means both speaking and listening to God. This helps me to reset my mindset.

Suspicion #2: God’s Word in the Bible can and does help me to reset my mindset frequently. The stories and teachings often bring me up short. They make me realize that I am often not simply missing the boat. I am on a boat heading the wrong direction.

Suspicion # 3: Other people help me to realize when my mindset is needing renewed or corrected. This includes my church, my 12-step friends and other friends, and my wife.

A final thought. When I do it, it helps me to have a better mindset if I begin the day and end the day by reminding myself what is really important: loving God and loving people. As they say, this is not rocket science. But simple is not the same thing as easy. I heard of a not-so-new convert to Christ who was reported to have said, “The problem with the Christian life is that it is so daily!” She was right.