Guard the Door to Your Mind
article by Steve Myers
"gird up the loins of your mind."
To the 21st-century ear, 1 Peter:1:13 sounds a bit peculiar in the King James Version of the Bible, and the New King James Version didn't update the wording. It tells us to "gird up the loins of your mind."
When I first read that verse I couldn't help thinking, "I didn't even know that my mind had loins, and how do you gird them anyway?" As unusual as it may first seem, Peter was inspired to record those curious words for us because they do have meaning and significance for our lives today.
What Do You Mean, "Gird Up the Loins"?
Imagine living at the time of the apostles. First-century dress was very different from today and people normally wore long robelike garments. If they tried to hurry, they could easily trip and fall over their lengthy clothing. It would be like trying to run somewhere in your long bathrobe.
To offset this dilemma a man would gather the folds of his long garment and tuck them into his belt so that he could move freely and speedily. Examples of this are also found in 1 Kings:18:46 and Luke:12:35.
Peter takes this common expression of his day and, instead of speaking about running with robes, he applies it to our minds. He tells us to take those long robes and pull them up, tuck them in and turn them into activewear. It's not time to lounge around in lengthy robes and take things as they come, but it's time to be ready for action. The NIV translation echoes this idea saying: "prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled."
What should our minds be actively doing? How do we prepare and protect our minds? We should begin by guarding the door to our mind. The process of guarding our minds is similar to protecting our computers. If our mind is to be ready for godly action, we must guard it like we secure our computers.
Install a Firewall
To keep our computer safe from attacks, we try to strengthen its defenses. What can be done to ward off computer problems? Install a firewall. A firewall isolates our computer from outside influences like the Internet. It allows the data we consider safe to enter and blocks the data we don't consider safe from corrupting our computer.
It's no different with our mind. We must strengthen our defenses by installing a spiritual firewall to guard our thoughts.
Proverbs:4:23-27
(New Century Version) tells us: "Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life. Don't use your mouth to tell lies; don't ever say things that are not true. Keep your eyes focused on what is right, and look straight ahead to what is good. Be careful what you do, and always do what is right. Don't turn off the road of goodness; keep away from evil paths." We must constantly be on the defensive to ward off wrong thoughts.
Isn't it true that our thoughts dictate the direction of our lives? The greatest battlefield of life is the mind, and we are constantly at war for its control! If we want to live right, we must put up a spiritual firewall and not allow just anything to affect our thinking.
We have to be careful what we let in, and what we allow to influence us. We have to keep wrong thoughts and wrong ideas out of our minds, because how we think will affect how we live.
Computer geeks have a name for this process. It's called GIGO. GIGO is an acronym that stands for "garbage in, garbage out." It means that the quality of the output is directly dependent on the quality of the input. In other words, if we put bad data in our computer, what comes out will be bad results.
Jesus taught that it is exactly the same with our minds. In Mark:7:20-23
He said, "The things that come out of people are the things that make them unclean. All these evil things begin inside people, in the mind: evil thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder, adultery, greed, evil actions, lying, doing sinful things, jealousy, speaking evil of others, pride, and foolish living. All these evil things come from inside and make people unclean" (NCV).
Don't allow ungodly thinking. If we allow wrong thoughts into our minds, it will result in wrong sinful actions. We must keep our minds clear, uncluttered, pure and right. By being filled with God's Holy Spirit, it is possible to keep the garbage out of our minds.
article by Steve Myers
"gird up the loins of your mind."
To the 21st-century ear, 1 Peter:1:13 sounds a bit peculiar in the King James Version of the Bible, and the New King James Version didn't update the wording. It tells us to "gird up the loins of your mind."
When I first read that verse I couldn't help thinking, "I didn't even know that my mind had loins, and how do you gird them anyway?" As unusual as it may first seem, Peter was inspired to record those curious words for us because they do have meaning and significance for our lives today.
What Do You Mean, "Gird Up the Loins"?
Imagine living at the time of the apostles. First-century dress was very different from today and people normally wore long robelike garments. If they tried to hurry, they could easily trip and fall over their lengthy clothing. It would be like trying to run somewhere in your long bathrobe.
To offset this dilemma a man would gather the folds of his long garment and tuck them into his belt so that he could move freely and speedily. Examples of this are also found in 1 Kings:18:46 and Luke:12:35.
Peter takes this common expression of his day and, instead of speaking about running with robes, he applies it to our minds. He tells us to take those long robes and pull them up, tuck them in and turn them into activewear. It's not time to lounge around in lengthy robes and take things as they come, but it's time to be ready for action. The NIV translation echoes this idea saying: "prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled."
What should our minds be actively doing? How do we prepare and protect our minds? We should begin by guarding the door to our mind. The process of guarding our minds is similar to protecting our computers. If our mind is to be ready for godly action, we must guard it like we secure our computers.
Install a Firewall
To keep our computer safe from attacks, we try to strengthen its defenses. What can be done to ward off computer problems? Install a firewall. A firewall isolates our computer from outside influences like the Internet. It allows the data we consider safe to enter and blocks the data we don't consider safe from corrupting our computer.
It's no different with our mind. We must strengthen our defenses by installing a spiritual firewall to guard our thoughts.
Proverbs:4:23-27
(New Century Version) tells us: "Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life. Don't use your mouth to tell lies; don't ever say things that are not true. Keep your eyes focused on what is right, and look straight ahead to what is good. Be careful what you do, and always do what is right. Don't turn off the road of goodness; keep away from evil paths." We must constantly be on the defensive to ward off wrong thoughts.
Isn't it true that our thoughts dictate the direction of our lives? The greatest battlefield of life is the mind, and we are constantly at war for its control! If we want to live right, we must put up a spiritual firewall and not allow just anything to affect our thinking.
We have to be careful what we let in, and what we allow to influence us. We have to keep wrong thoughts and wrong ideas out of our minds, because how we think will affect how we live.
Computer geeks have a name for this process. It's called GIGO. GIGO is an acronym that stands for "garbage in, garbage out." It means that the quality of the output is directly dependent on the quality of the input. In other words, if we put bad data in our computer, what comes out will be bad results.
Jesus taught that it is exactly the same with our minds. In Mark:7:20-23
He said, "The things that come out of people are the things that make them unclean. All these evil things begin inside people, in the mind: evil thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder, adultery, greed, evil actions, lying, doing sinful things, jealousy, speaking evil of others, pride, and foolish living. All these evil things come from inside and make people unclean" (NCV).
Don't allow ungodly thinking. If we allow wrong thoughts into our minds, it will result in wrong sinful actions. We must keep our minds clear, uncluttered, pure and right. By being filled with God's Holy Spirit, it is possible to keep the garbage out of our minds.
