Wisdom Wednesday: Setting our Minds on God

Helpful advice from Dallas Willard

I’ve been re-reading Dallas Willard’s masterpiece, The Divine Conspiracy, in recent weeks. I came across this simple but profound insight:

Now we need to understand that what simply occupies our mind very largely governs what we do. It sets the emotional tone out of which our actions flow, and it projects the possible courses of action available to us. Also the mind, though of little power on its own, is the place of our widest and most basic freedom…freedom with respect to what we will think of…The deepest revelation of our character is what we choose to dwell on in thought, what constantly occupies our mind—as well as what we can or cannot even think of (324).

I’ve found this to be true, but also hard to do. My mind tends to wander and naturally fix itself on things besides God. It might be what I need to get done today, something I’m worried about, a trial, a writing or teaching project, a relationship, the next Chiefs game…but not God. While these are all things that merit time and attention (well, maybe not the Chiefs, at least not as much as I give them), if they crowd God out of my mind then I’m missing out on a deeper union with God. I’m also missing out on how God’s kingdom can be manifested in the substance and details of my everyday life.

The mind is able to attend to God’s loving presence while also engaging with others and fulfilling our daily responsibilities. I can be aware that someone else is in the room while also focusing on something else. Watching the Chiefs yesterday with my wife Dawn, I was taking in the game but also aware of her presence. In the same way, we can go about our daily lives while also being aware of God’s presence with us. And when we are able to, we can focus more intensely on God’s love, grace, justice, or some other specific trait. As Willard notes, all of this sets the emotional tone for our day and leads us to the actions we perform. Whatever occupies our mind also reveals and forms our character. These are just some of the fruits of following the example of David in Psalm 16:8:

“I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.”