Monday Morning Devotion-August 26, 2024
Mindset
Fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love. Philippians 2:2
This week we continue our countdown of the top 10 most popular devotions from 2005 to the present. This week for our 1,002nd we look at the 6th most viewed of the devotions: “Mindset” from January 7, 2013. It was viewed by 3,384 people.
Mindset
According to the dictionary a mindset is:
(1) "A fixed mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person’s responses to and interpretations of situations. "
(2) "An inclination or a habit.
From that definition it would seem that your mindset is a determining factor in how successful you are and how far you can go in life.
Carol Dweck, author of the book "Mindsets says: "Mindsets frame the running account that is taking place in people’s heads. They guide the whole interpretation process. In other words, it’s a simple thing. Whatever our mind is set on is going to direct and govern what we do in life. That’s the premise we need to examine if we are wondering why things are going a certain way in our life.
Dweck says we may or may not be aware of it, but we keep a running account of what is happening to us and what we should do. Our minds are constantly monitoring and interpreting because that is how we stay on track. "Some people put more extreme interpretations on things that happen and then react with exaggerated feelings of anxiety, depression, or anger. Or superiority,” she writes.
So, if these mindsets are really running things in our lives, it figures that an effort to assess them and make changes where they are needed would be important. In considering this course we should probably try to gain an understanding of where our own mindset is at the present time or at least most of the time.
Basically, mindsets fall into one of two categories most of the time. The first is a fixed mindset and the second is a growth mindset. We are all born with a growth mindset. Take the case of a baby or a toddler. As they explore their new world learning how to walk and talk and figure things out they epitomize the growth mindset. Their minds are not fixed on the possibility of failure. They just try things without being held back by "what ifs or fears of failure.
But along the way we start learning the fixed mindset thinking as we attempt to do things. According to Dweck: "In the fixed mindset it is not enough just to succeed. It’s not enough just to look smart and talented. You have to be pretty much flawless. And you have to be flawless right away. It’s that kind of thinking that can play a major role in failure.
Now no one has a fixed mindset all the time. Often, we become growth oriented in our thinking. We venture out and naturally we sometimes fail. But that is not the end of the world. More frequently we succeed.
So how do we change to a more growth-oriented mindset most of the time. Dweck lists four ways:
1) Listen to that fixed mindset voice. Learn to recognize it and determine what is it saying to you. Is it saying "Hey People are going to laugh at you if you can’t do that? Yeah, what a terrible thing that would be wouldn’t it? Or you might hear yourself say, "It’s not my fault. TLS and I had to laugh when we first heard our granddaughter, Quinn, say that as soon as something happened that she thought would meet with disapproval, even though it was a harmless thing. She was almost 3 years old. How quickly we fixate on shifting blame.
2) As we hear this voice and interpret what it is telling us we can recognize it for what it is-a false prompting. If you choose to interpret challenges, setbacks, and criticism in a fixed mindset you may never attempt and find greatness or even the minor successes that could be yours.
3) So, we should talk back to this fixed mindset with a growth mindset voice. When the fixed approach asks, and this mindset is good at asking questions, "What if you fail---will you be labeled a failure? Answer back with a growth mindset that says "Most successful people had failures along the way.
4) Then take the growth mindset action and take on the challenge wholeheartedly, learn from your setbacks and try again. Hear the criticism and act on it because it is now in your hands.
We should practice hearing both voices and practice acting on the growth mindset.
As believers we have help in developing our growth mindset. In our associations with other followers of Jesus we become like-minded. We are called to have a mindset that is loving and accepting of one another just like Christ accepts us even when we lapse into a fixed mindset state. There we don’t experience the growth we could if we were more accepting of others.
Paul encouraged believers to "be like-minded and have the same love for each other. “
QSB (Quest Study Bible) points out that this does not mean that Christians will have no disagreements. "Christians can have differing opinions and disagree with each other about some things. To be like-minded need not suggest a lockstep, cloned behavior. It is instead a call to have attitudes like Christ loving and accepting one another.”
To have an "attitude like Christ” is not to have a fixed mindset that shuts out all other things. It is to have a growth mindset that explores and interprets what is going on in the world so better choices can be made in all aspects of life.
It frees us to deal with opposition or differing opinions by showing respect but by going and growing in the right way. Sometimes these differing views have credence. Maybe they are not dramatically different from what Christ would lead us to do or say. On the surface they might seem diametrically opposed to what we believe and that is where a fixed mindset would end them.
But when viewed with a growth mindset maybe there is a reason,we have been exposed to this. And maybe there is a way to use this experience to grow personally and also gain Kingdom growth.
Monday Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for this lesson in examining our mindsets in life to determine if they are where they should be to serve you. Amen