Walk and Mind
/In my reading this morning (I have been plodding my way through the book of Romans) in Romans chapter 8, I was immediately struck by the tail end of verse 1: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
The word “walk” shined out to me. I looked up the word in the 1828 Webster Dictionary app, and here are the bits of the full definition that I saw fit for this situation:
“to live and act or behave; to pursue a particular course of life.”
“ to be guided by the counsels and influences of..”
And I thought, “Lord help me to not to live, act, behave, pursue after, and be guided and influenced by the flesh, but help me instead to live, act, behave, pursue after, and be guided and influenced by the Spirit!”
I also looked up the word “after,” to see what old Webster had to say about it, which was this: “According to the direction and influence of.” There is that word “influence” again.
A bit further down in Romans 8th chapter, verse 5 hit me, “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit”
1828 Webster Dictionary says that the word “mind” means both “To attend to; to fix the thoughts on; to regard with attention.” and “To attend to or regard with submission; to obey”
I dwelt most on the first definition I shared (full definition here). Can I honestly say that I am not attending to or fixing my thoughts on the world and the flesh?
Running synchronous with my reading this morning and the thoughts provoked by Romans 8 were thoughts about the past three weeks in which I have been fasting from wordly entertainment, which for me meant deleting Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and YouTube Plus (sports) from my iPhone, choosing gospel or christian music or classical when listening to music, and choosing books that point to Christ and the Bible (I chose “Ben-Hur” by Lew Wallace and “No I in Church” by Keith Drury). I intend to extend this fast through the course of Campmeeting, and when home from Campmeeting in late July, do a self-assessment to see, if like the Hebrew children taken captive by the Babylonians, I am actually “fairer and fatter in flesh” due to the fast.
I can already tell a drastic difference in the directions my thoughts run. I feel my internals calming down. Honestly, I have experienced some feelings of withdrawal, but I’m determined to see this through.
As is often the case when I have chosen to lay something down, the temptation comes to look down on other folks that have not made the same choice. Amazing, the human ego! And so while reading Romans 8, I discover the thought/emotion that I will phrase in the form of a question - If I’m scrolling social media or watching internet videos for hours a day, can I really say that I am not minding the things of the flesh? This is something I intend to discover for myself.
I am a proponent of temperance, of moderation. I have found that often the Holy Spirit inside me keeps me from both the extreme of liberality to the point of sin or searing the conscience, but also from the other edge of legalism and hypocrisy. Right in the middle of the stream, where the current flows deep and strong, that’s where I want to be.
Yet I cannot ignore the call to “walk after” and to “mind” the Spirit. (Note the capitalized “Spirit”, obviously and definitely referring to the one Holy Spirit of God, the member of the trinity, the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, the Promise).
In Matthew 6:22, the gospel writer records these words of Jesus; “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.”
What does it mean for me, for us, in this modern age, to keep our eye single? And why doesn’t Jesus say “eyes?” We typically have two of them. I think this is because He was not referring to the physical orbs in our head that we see out of, He was instead referring to the internal focus of the mind that directs the physical eyes.
If I want my eye to be single, if I want to “walk after” and “mind” the things of the Spirit, then I have to intentionally not look at things of the world that would distract me from focusing on God. By definition, focusing on one thing means that we are not focusing on anything else.
Thinking on these things, my prayer is that Jesus’s true church, the foundation of God that stands sure, the innumerable group of white robed, blood washed, sanctified, filled with the Holy Ghost, saints of God, would leave off the distracting elements of the world with intentionality, and turn our minds to the Spirit.
So we know how to leave off the world, how do we then tune in to the wavelength of Heaven?
Here are some ideas:
-Think about Heaven.
-Think about your conversion experience, or someone else’s conversion that you experienced.
-Think about how to witness to some soul.
-Think about scripture - if you’ve memorized scripture you have a leg up, repeat it to yourself, roll it around in your mind.
-Go to church! That’s where Jesus is, after all. He is in His church.
-Read the Bible for yourself! Make a habit of it. Dive in deeper. Research the meaning of words you don’t know. Follow scripture references.
-Pray! You know you can pray to Jesus and God the Father all day long? He never tires of it. Pray for help with your work, your family, conversations, all of it. Pray for friends and family. Pray for coworkers. Pray pray pray.
-Have conversations with sanctified people! Call someone, I’m sure they’d love to hear from you.
And there are many other things you can do. An old song says “Tune your heart to Heaven’s wavelength through the blessed control of prayer.”
I hope and pray this may have helped someone. If it did, I’d love to hear from you. Use the contact us form on the site and drop us a comment. God bless you.
- note to readers, this was written July 2, 2025.