Head Space

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. 

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.

Jesus, we belong to you. 

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. 

Colossians 3:1–3

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

Have you ever walked around your house looking for the perfect Wi-Fi spot for your cell phone? You know, the place where reception is crystal clear and there is nothing interfering? There are times when I’ve wandered around my home and dropped important phone conversations because my reception was bad. If I’m being honest, that could also describe my spiritual life. However, when that happens, I find that it is not God who has lost transmission, but my wandering mind that has lost reception.

As we build our lives as an altar, we need to create mental space and set our minds on Christ. We can have the most beautiful chapels for worship and our homes can have the most serene devotional space, but if our minds are not set, we can be like the Israelites wandering in the desert. In our passage, Paul wrote to the Colossians to encourage them. They were distracted by the noise of the world, and he told them to set their hearts and their minds on things above. The definition of the word set in the original language gives us a little more insight. To set means to direct one’s mind or to seek. In other words, this is not a passive activity.

I know that when I am not actively engaging my mind or directing it toward a particular activity then it is guaranteed to wander, and it typically wanders to a streaming service or a game on my phone. Paul knew that the world is always offering distractions for a wandering mind so the only way to live as a faithful disciple is to actively direct our minds toward Jesus. When our hearts and minds are on Christ, our lives will reflect Christ. Theologian A. W. Tozer wrote, “the [person] who would know God must give time to Him.”¹

Setting our minds on the things above can be easier said than done. As we seek to be altar’d during this Lenten season, we may need to make two changes: reset and replace. First, let’s reset. Creating mental space might mean physically moving to a space that is more conducive for your mind to focus. Jesus would often leave the crowds and the activity of the town to pray alone. “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed” (Mark 1:35). He had to reset by physically leaving a place to mentally create space.

Second, let’s replace. Creating mental space might mean replacing what is normal in our routine for a different activity. We may need to replace something that is trivial with something that is meaningful. Replace something that is draining with something that is filling. What is taking up your mental space today? The world is not lacking in things that can distract us and drain us, but we have a choice to reset and replace so that our time can be offered to the Lord.

THE PRAYER 

Lord, be the only clear voice in our heads today. We choose to set our minds on the good news of Christ so we can set our hearts and minds on You. Amen.

THE QUESTION

What is the noise in your life that distracts you? How does the physical space you create help provide time for mental space? Are there any changes you can make in your life today that give more time for God?

For the Awakening,
Susan Kent

NOTES

1. A. W. Tozer, The Divine Conquest (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 1995).

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