Surrendering The Mind

This week while reading from Oswald Chamber’s "My Utmost For His Highest" I was really challenged by the attitude that he had in pursuing God. His attitude is almost a mirror of Paul’s in his letter to the Philippians. Chambers says, "Shut out every other thought and keep yourself before God in this one thing only – my utmost for His highest. I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and Him alone." What an amazing heart!!! That’s hard to do and hard to even want to do! Paul affirms this as his mindset in his second letter to the Corinthians saying, "…we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Co 10:5) Can you image checking yourself on every thought?! Talk about loving God with all your mind! (Matt 22:37) This means rejecting all thoughts of anxiety, worry, and doubt that seek to make a home in our mind. It means casting off every inclination to dwell on people and things outside of a God-focused frame of mind. Maybe this is what Paul was referring to when he said "pray continually." (1 Th 5:17) I can’t think of a greater surrender than this! This must be why Oswald Chambers refers to it as "my utmost". This is a great sacrifice on our part but it’s the only acceptable sacrifice when we consider Christ’s sacrifice for us. We owe Him all of our minds! This, that God may be the Highest and glorified beyond all measure in our lives. Though no one can see our thoughts or know what we’re thinking, God sees every thought, and He wants to dwell in our minds. Only God will know of the glory we bring to Him by the secret and hidden places of our thoughts.