Mind of Christ
But the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.
The teaching is clear: the mind set on the spirit is life and peace. Achieving this state is fundamentally about attention. While we commonly view the mind as the center of intellect and reasoning, Scripture reveals its primary function as an organ of attention—what we deliberately choose to attend to and bring to remembrance. This choice shapes our lives more than any other decision we make.
The mind has the remarkable ability to focus on specific objects or ideas and to shift that focus at will. The inputs our mind receives flow directly from what holds our attention. We can change the inputs by choosing what captures our attention. Our thoughts, emotions, and actions emerge from this foundation of focused awareness.
Both our present experience and life's trajectory can be transformed by redirecting our attention. While we cannot directly alter every thought that pops into our mind, we can consciously redirect our focus—and this redirection changes everything else. Transformation occurs through sustained attention to divine realities. This is precisely why Paul wrote:
Set your minds on the things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
Our attention alters our conscious experience of life. Paul spoke from his own experience about the impact of pivoting our attention:
The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.
Christ Himself corrected Peter for misplaced attention.
You are a stumbling block to Me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.
God calls His people to focused attention.
Be still, and know that I am God.
Being still (Hebrew: raphah) is a release from human striving, making space for the consciousness of divine presence to emerge.
Moses shifted his attention from shepherding to divine manifestation at the burning bush.
I will turn aside to see this great sight.
That opened the door for his calling. Similarly, Samuel's attentive posture enabled divine communication.
Speak, for your servant hears.
Our mind has a key role in developing and maintaining the consciousness of God. A mind set upon the spirit can pay attention to the things of God, who is Spirit. As our attention changes, what we sense and receive also changes.
Setting our attention is like setting a wireless receiver to the unseen waves being transmitted at a certain frequency. Attention is the dial that can be most easily adjusted to change how we feel about our lives.
Simply put, change begins with changing attention. The direction of change is maintained by continually redirecting our attention. Attention is the rudder that guides the ship.
To cultivate God's presence, we must first become aware of where our attention rests. Then we turn inward, away from mental chatter, toward pure awareness—a state resembling being itself. God is the ground of being, the Good Land within our consciousness where milk and honey flow as symbols of nourishment and delight. What our mind dwells on becomes the place of dwelling in that moment..
There is an inner sanctuary where God dwells.
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?
If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
This indwelling presence requires inner attention to be perceived and experienced. Jesus withdrew to lonely places to pray, modeling the necessity of inner attention. Daniel's practice of praying three times daily, facing Jerusalem, demonstrates a ritualized attention that maintains a spiritual connection despite external circumstances.
The Desert Fathers developed practices of contemplative prayer through repeated invocation. Paul's instruction to pray without ceasing creates a continuous stream of directed attention toward God.
Contemplative reading of Scripture (Lectio Divina) transforms words from mere information into a live connection with the divine. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. This practice views Scripture as a living word rather than a historical document, allowing for divine communication through sustained attention to the sacred text.
The practice of Lectio Divina is about “feasting” on the word. The words become spirit and life. Prayerful scripture reading is an approachable practice that heightens our awareness of God. There are four movements:
· Lectio (reading) involves a slow and attentive engagement with sacred texts that seeks encounter rather than information. Reading brings communion of spirit, in which we know and are known. Text reads us as much as we read it.
· Meditatio (meditation) involves repeating words or phrases, allowing them to resonate throughout consciousness.
· Oratio (prayer) emerges from meditative engagement, as responses of praise, petition, confession, or intercession.
· Contemplatio (contemplation) represents wordless attention to divine presence, simply being present to God without agenda or effort.
The words inspired by the Spirit are written on our hearts and minds through a focused, meditative, and attentive practice of reading the sacred writings.
The practice of waiting upon the Lord maintains a state of attentiveness that renews strength and brings effortlessness to our pursuit.
Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Biblical waiting (qavah) implies active expectation. Like a waiter in a restaurant who remains alert to customer needs, spiritual waiting involves attentive readiness for divine initiative.
Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.
The psalmist describes this active waiting:
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning.
The formation of the church involved a ten-day waiting in prayer at Pentecost. It takes time to be “gathered” unto the Lord.
The practice of sustained attention fulfills the divine promise. Even in the ordinary moments of daily life, the promise of the Spirit is received when our mind, with its attention, turns to the Lord. The veil is then taken away, and we sense reality.
Meditation, or hagah in Hebrew, encompasses the act of speaking and musing. Inner speech can be harnessed to ruminate on divine truths. This reclaims mental territory that might otherwise be lost to aimless mind wandering.
His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Eyes set upon Him - Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, is sound advice, drawn from experienced reality.
The single eye fills the body with light, meaning that deliberately focusing our attention can alter our inner state. Jesus contrasts the single eye with the evil eye that produces darkness.
The double-minded person is unstable in all his ways because divided attention creates internal conflict.
Repentance (metanoia) is fundamentally a change of mind, a redirection of attention. The kingdom of heaven draws near and becomes accessible through this shift of focus.
The parable of the prodigal son illustrates repentance as a redirection of attention. The son's transformation begins when “he came to himself” in a moment of awakened attention to his true condition. His decision to return represents a shift in attention.
The Lord’s Supper also relates to communion through attention. Jesus' words, Do this in remembrance of me, establish a practice that concentrates all spiritual attention on the person and work of Christ.
Taking up our cross and following Him requires moment-by-moment choices about where to focus our attention. Let this mind be in you, which also was in Christ, a singular, concentrated attention toward God characterized by self-emptying.
Renewing of the mind produces transformation.
Be transformed by the renewing of the mind.
Beholding and reflecting, like a mirror, the glory of the Lord
This renewal occurs through “beholding,” which is about shifting our attention. That alters our inner state, the content of our thoughts, and our outward expression.
Self-centeredness naturally captures attention; other-centeredness requires intentional redirection.
Look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Redirect attention after personal failures. Jesus asked Peter three times, "Do you love me?" This focuses Peter's attention on the relationship rather than performance. Redirection of attention restores both calling and confidence after personal failures that bring despair and disappointment.
Christ's simplest instruction was, Follow Me. In addition, He gives the Spirit, which enlightens the eyes of our hearts, to make following Him feasible. To follow requires our attention – a mind set upon the spirit. This keeps us on the path and brings us to our destination.
The invitation to discipleship is fundamentally an invitation to sustained attention, once the connection has been established through the gift of the Spirit. The development of attention capacity enables more continuous awareness of divine presence. This awareness brings joy to ordinary activities through divine communion, as it integrates divine guidance into everyday decisions. The Spirit leads us to know the kingdom of God and experience the heavenly sphere.
Anxieties and distractions can occupy our attention, having a blinding effect. Cultivating present-moment awareness of God's provision and presence is to seek first the kingdom.
Spiritual listlessness and loss of fervor are among the obstacles faced. Persevering and overcoming emotional resistance may be necessary at times.
A mind focused on theological constructs can replace real experience. We may hold onto biblical concepts rather than lay hold of the Living One.
Constant stimulation creates habits of mind that lead to a perpetual quest for the next activity. Deliberate withdrawal creates the space for divine stimuli to operate.
Our attention is the most valuable asset we possess. Unlike money or time, attention cannot be saved or borrowed. Attention can only be spent in the present moment. The present is where all spiritual exchange occurs. God’s presence is only found when we present ourselves.
The mind’s capacity for attention can be invested in the divine reality, where it produces a multiplication. Squandering or burying our ability to attend to the sacred is a lost opportunity. The stewardship we have is a stewardship of this asset of attention, which we can deploy to remember Him, receive Him, and know Him.
The world seeks to capture and monetize human attention. The spiritual life grows by deliberate choices about attention allocation.
Paul's instruction to redeem the time, because the days are evil, requires conscious attention to divine priorities.
The widow's offering of all she had to live on demonstrates how complete attention investment yields a divine response. The wealth we have that is of value to God is our attention. It is the mind that is set upon the spirit that enables divine dispensing into our vessel, resulting in the experience of life and peace.
Our attention represents our most precious offering to God. When we offer our attention completely, we receive divine attention in return—the mutual gaze that constitutes the essence of love. Attention is what links being to Being.
Mary's choice to give her attention to the Lord instead of being anxious for many things gains Jesus' commendation:
Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.
For us today, contemplative attention pays the highest divine returns.
The journey of faith is ultimately a journey of attention towards that which is eternal. We learn to see what has always been present, to hear what has always been spoken, and to experience what has always been available. The kingdom of heaven is at hand, accessible through the simple, transformative act of turning our hearts—because attention is what links being to Being.
