We can all remember the joy in seeing our grade school teachers wheeling a box TV into our science classrooms, or connecting a DVD player to the TV, so that we could watch Bill Nye the Science Guy or the Magic School Bus. Do you remember watching the DVD logo bounce across the screen, changing colors, while the teacher fumbled getting the movie started? I can still remember my class watching anxiously to see if the logo ever bounced directly in the center of one of the corners!
In the same way that the TV screen defaulted to the DVD logo, our minds naturally default to something when we’re not consciously thinking. Our minds continue to think and work, even when we don’t try to. Everyone’s mind has a relaxed place that it will return to. Though, ironically, it doesn’t mean that this place is actually very relaxing at all. When our thoughts are in a relaxed default state we may find ourselves worrying about finances, dreaming about the future, running through an endless to-do list, or reliving an embarrassing moment from the 6th grade.
So, what does your mind default to?
If I choose to fill my time with Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok, and other social media, my mind will be filled with calculating every single “like” and “share” and “retweet” I get; I’ll find myself closing one social media app just to open another one, and checking all of my DM’s constantly. The default of my mind will always revert to a state of worry about my image and what others think of me. On the other hand, if I consciously choose to place my thoughts on Jesus, what He has done in my life, remembering what He did on the cross, what His character looks like, and recalling the promises of His Word, then I will see that my thoughts default to the truth of who God is. Essentially, when our thoughts behold who God is, we will become more like Him.
Our minds naturally relax to whatever they are filled with. Our mind at its most relaxed, default state reveals what we fill our minds with. Colossians 3:2 says to “set your mind on things above, not earthly things.” God’s Word is clear that our minds should be filled with the things of heaven, but how easy is it to be distracted by the things of the world we live in? It may seem foreign at first, but we must remember that if this is in God’s Word, then our minds are designed to be set on heavenly things. We were never meant to be filled with things like fear. We were made to be filled with the things of God.
PRACTICAL CHALLENGE: This week I challenge you every time you find your mind defaulting to things like worrying about the future, or feeling anxiety creeping in about whatever it is that you need, take a moment to list out a minimum of 10 attributes of God’s character and see how the Holy Spirit will transform your mind to default on the cares of His Kingdom.
By: Olivia Schmelter