Facing the Hindrances to Growth

The process of renewing our minds is vital for our growth and development. Once we recognise its importance, we need to change our priorities and schedules in order to be able to invest time and energy in this vital area. If we fail to do this, the effectiveness of our ministries will be significantly diminished. The renewing of the mind does not happen by itself; we need to "˜sow into' private disciplines in order to "˜reap' a harvest of renewed thinking.

We must not wait until we have some "˜free time' to invest in these areas. We need to see these private disciplines as essential to developing our leadership capacity. Just as our leadership will suffer if we fail to invest time in spiritual disciplines, we will also fail to achieve God's will for our lives if we neglect disciplines that will renew our minds. We cannot afford to underestimate the importance of this area: failure to discipline our minds can lead seriously undermine our ministry.

Today's world has powerful media images that are used to influence our thinking: television, magazines, the Internet and sports are just a few examples of the opportunities that we have. None of these are wrong in themselves, but we need to consider how these media influence our thinking and attitudes. The choices that we need to make are often not between what is "˜right' and what is "˜wrong', but between what is "˜good' and what is "˜the best'. The apostle Paul highlights this as he writes to the Corinthians:

""Everything is permissible for me" - but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me" - but I will not be mastered by anything." (1 Corinthians 6:12)

We need to ask ourselves the 'hard questions': will this activity have a negative influence on my thinking and attitudes? Could I invest my time more profitably? We need to keep in mind the vision that we have for our lives and not allow ourselves to compromise and get side-tracked into areas that will hinder our growth.

One common attitude that we may need to confront is possessing a 'victim mentality'. This is when we feel that we are caught in a trap and that we have no choices. Often this will be reflected in our speech. We will hear ourselves say statements such as "I cannot" or "If only" or "I have to" rather than "I will not" or "I choose not to" or "I will" God has created us with a free will and we always have choices that we can make. We cannot always choose the situations and circumstances that surround us, but we can choose our response to those circumstances. We must change our outlook so that see ourselves in control of our responses, rather than being controlled by circumstances. Our attitudes need to be transformed until we possess Paul's attitude:

"I can do everything through him who gives me strength." (Philipians 4:13)