Our minds default to negativity, distractions, stress, and selfishness. That’s thanks to our sinful nature. And, therefore, just as our bodies need a good detox now and then, so do our minds.
Several years ago, I preached on this very topic. This multi-part series is based on that sermon. I want us to look at several Bible passages that can help all of us detox our minds so we can “walk worthy” with our Lord (see Ephesians 4:1) and call on Him “out of a pure heart” (see II Timothy 2:22).
In our last article, we looked at the following two verses:
- Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. (James 1:21)
- Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. (James 4:10)
I encourage you to go back and read that article (if you haven’t already) to better understand those verses and how they apply to detoxing our minds.
For now, let’s move on to our next passage: Ephesians 4.
The letter to the Ephesians, written by the apostle Paul, dates back to around AD 60-61. This timeframe aligns with the writing of Paul’s letters to Colossians and Philemon, as he entrusted Tychicus to deliver all three letters (Ephesians 6:21; Colossians 4:7-9; Philemon 1:10-12). It is important to note that Paul penned these letters while in Rome during his initial Roman imprisonment (Ephesians 3:1; 4:1), hence they are often referred to as the Prison Epistles.
In the first three chapters of his letter to the Ephesian Christians, Paul explores God’s sovereignty and grace, culminating in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Through Christ, people from all backgrounds, both Jews and Gentiles, are chosen, adopted as God’s children, and reconciled to the Father through faith. Previously dead in their sins, they have been brought to life by the transformative power of Jesus Christ.
With the theological foundation of Ephesians 1-3 in mind, Paul then emphasized the importance of believers living in alignment with their heavenly calling (see Ephesians 4:1). For the next three chapters (Ephesians 4-6), Paul urged the Ephesians (and, by extension, us) to exhibit specific behaviors in their interactions within the church, family, and society.
The entire book of Ephesians is frankly pertinent to the transformative work of the Holy Spirit in our minds and hearts — a work we are supposed to cooperate with. But we’re going to focus on Ephesians 4.
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:1-3, KJV)
A proper detox depends on a proper mindset. And that mindset must start with your status. The popular self-help author and speaker Tony Robbins is fond of talking about how one’s “state” impacts performance. This is even truer for your spiritual walk with the Lord. Your “state” needs to be centered on your relationship with God and your status before Him.
Paul doesn’t introduce himself as a preeminent apostle, eloquent author, or well-traveled cosmopolitan thinker. His mindset is rooted in his submission to God. He identifies as a “prisoner of the Lord.” And note that he wrote this letter under house arrest. He was, legally speaking, a prisoner of Rome. But, in spiritual reality, he was a prisoner of the Lord because he was doing the Lord’s will.
You will encounter hardship, difficulty, setbacks, disappointments, pain, and heartache. Your flesh will want to do everything it can to avoid or minimize such pain and to instead pursue pleasure.
But…
A servant of the Lord understands that the most important question is not “Why is this happening to me?” or “Why am I in pain?” but rather…
“Am I in the Lord’s will?”
If so, you can know and trust that God is with you. And He will provide for your needs in His time. Maybe not all your wants and likely not on your timeline. But will you trust Him?
And will you center your life on Him?
I can’t emphasize enough how crucial this is to a proper mindset in your spiritual life.
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. (Ephesians 4:4-6, KJV)
God is not a “god” of our making. And Christianity is not a product of our imagination. We don’t each have our own truth or our own “religion” that we can shape and mold to our liking.
There is only one real holy community — one real “church.” And only one Holy Spirit. Only one Lord, and His name is Jesus. And there is only one “God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
There’s no place for postmodernist relativism, human-centered deconstruction, private interpretations of Scripture, personal truths, or any of that nonsense in our relationship with God.
But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:7-16, KJV)
There’s a ton to unpack in this passage, but this article is already getting a bit long. You see why I divided this into several parts now, right? Our focus is on detoxing the mind, so I’m only going to hit on the highlights that relate to that.
Don’t compare yourself to other people. We are all part of the body of Christ – those of us who have put our faith and trust sincerely in Christ – but we are also individuals with our own gifts, callings, and responsibilities within that body. We each have a race to run (see Hebrews 12:1-2), so don’t compare yourself with someone else’s race.
To help us in our walk (see Ephesians 4:1) or race (see Hebrews 12:1-2), Jesus gave us “prophets,” “apostles,” “evangelists,” and “pastors and teachers.” I won’t bore you with the Greek (not for this article anyway), but the latter (in this context) is really one office, not two. In other words, a pastor is a teacher.
We have access to the prophets and apostles today via the Scriptures. Those are the guys who wrote the Scriptures! And, while all of us are to evangelize, God has anointed some with the spiritual gift of evangelism to do mighty work in this area. I think of Paul himself. And, in more modern times, we have George Whitefield, Lottie Moon, Billy Sunday, D.L. Moody, and Billy Graham (to name just a few).
And pastors and teachers (again, same position or office), we have plenty of those. 🙂 They lead and teach the local congregations of our Lord’s church. (At least, they’re supposed to).
The application for us today is… We should take advantage of these gifts by being in the Scriptures and in church regularly!
Otherwise, we will be spiritually immature and will be “tossed to and fro,” deceived, and “carried about by every wind of doctrine.” Instead, we need to be devoted to the truth – which we are to speak in love.
I’ll let you be the judge of how we’re doing collectively on this front.
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (Ephesians 4:17-24, KJV)
If we’ve given our lives to Jesus, we shouldn’t “walk…as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind.” They are “alienated from the life of God through ignorance that is in them” thanks to the “blindness of their heart” and their ungodly lives reflect that.
We shouldn’t still be living in darkness. We should be living as Christ followers. And that’s because we should be saying goodbye to the “former conversation” or “the old man” – which means the former lifestyles of our previous (unsaved) selves. Instead, we should be renewing our minds in the new identities we have in Christ.
Note how mind renewal works, according to Paul. It’s all part of the work of the Holy Spirit and all part of our identity in and status with Jesus Christ.
With all the above in mind, Paul gets specific…
Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:25-32, KJV)
There’s no need for me, in this article, to repeat all the preceding sins listed by Paul. But I want to make sure we don’t just breeze over the sins Paul calls out.
If you want to know whether you’ve detoxed your mind, look at the sins Paul enumerates and honestly ask yourself how many of those sins are a part of your life. Call it a report card.
And we’re going to look at an even more explicit report card in our next passage… in Part 3.
I hope you’ve enjoyed our 2-part look thus far at detoxing the mind. Part 3 is coming soon.
In the meantime, for further reading:
