Setting Your Mind on Jesus: Exchange Lies for Truth

The transformed mind sets its mind on Jesus, not as a one time Sunday moment, but as a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday kind of life. God does not hand out a passport to heaven and then say, “see you later.” God brings people from death to life in the whole person, heart, soul, mind, and body, and that renewal keeps going as believers keep seeking and keep thinking about the things above.

Paul writes Colossians 3 as a man whose own mind had been transformed. Paul had been a hater of Christians, even hunting them down, until God knocked him off his donkey and turned his whole life around. Paul’s words carry that ongoing sense: “keep seeking” and “keep thinking.” The transformed mind is not passive. It actively sets attention, affection, and thought on Christ, who is seated at the right hand of God.

The first exchange is the lie, “I am unloved,” for the truth of belovedness. The enemy has used shame and guilt since the garden, and he is not creative. God answers that lie through Jesus. Before Jesus had preached, healed, or impressed anyone, the Father said, “This is my Son whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” God speaks belovedness over adopted sons and daughters because Christ died while sinners were still sinners, not after they cleaned themselves up.

The second exchange is the sneaky lie, “If I do the right things, God will reward me.” The older son in the prodigal story did everything right, but still lived like a servant instead of a son. The father’s answer is the truth: “You are always with me. All that is mine is yours.” God calls for faithfulness, not a green card performance system where grace is earned by good behavior and lost by failure.

The third exchange is the lie that believing the right things is the same as doing them. Scripture refuses to let faith stay in the head only. James says faith without works is dead, and Jesus calls followers, not just idea holders. A mind transformed by truth becomes good news in motion, feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, and carrying the gospel with beautiful feet.

Scripture becomes the practical place of renewal. God calls believers to surround the day with the word, meditate on it like a lion gnawing every good bit off the bone, and study it deeply because learning leads to loving. The transformed mind keeps setting, keeps seeking, and keeps following Jesus.

Key Takeaways

• 1. Keep seeking things above Colossians calls the transformed mind into a continual process, not a one time spiritual high. The “ing” matters: keep seeking, keep thinking, keep returning attention to Christ. A mind becomes formed by what it repeatedly turns toward, so renewal grows through holy repetition, not religious autopilot. [09:23]
• 2. Belovedness comes before performance The Father declared love over Jesus before public ministry, miracles, or impressive output. That order matters because adopted sons and daughters receive love as identity, not payment. Shame says love must be earned, but the cross says God saw the whole picture and still moved first. [16:17]
• 3. Grace is not a green card The older son’s anger shows how obedience can still be driven by a servant’s mindset. Performance-based faith turns every failure into a threat because earned grace can also be lost. The Father answers that fear with sonship: presence and inheritance were already given. [23:49]
• 4. Faith must become embodied James refuses a faith that stays tidy in the head while ignoring hungry bodies and thirsty souls. God made people as heart, soul, mind, and body beings, so belief must take on hands, feet, mercy, and witness. A moderated religion may feel safe, but it quietly robs others of encountering Christ’s love. [27:26]
• 5. Scripture trains holy attention Meditation is not weird spiritual fog; it is worry turned toward truth. Scripture gets chewed on, returned to, written down, spoken, studied, and carried through the day until it sinks beneath surface thoughts. The enemy works hard to bury lies deep, but the Spirit works truth deeper. [34:06]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [02:28] - Stuart’s Introduction And Commission Connection
• [04:49] - A Transformed Mind
• [07:17] - Colossians 3 And Things Above
• [08:21] - Paul’s Transformed Life
• [09:23] - Keep Seeking, Keep Thinking
• [10:10] - Exchanging Lies For Truth
• [14:31] - Lie One: I Am Unloved
• [19:44] - Lie Two: God Rewards Performance
• [21:50] - The Older Son And Grace
• [26:01] - Lie Three: Belief Without Action
• [31:37] - Surround The Day With Scripture
• [33:26] - Meditating On God’s Word
• [36:37] - Studying Scripture Deepens Love
• [39:10] - Prayer For Renewal And Discipleship

1. In Colossians 3:1-4, what are believers told to set their hearts and minds on, and where is Christ described as being? [07:33]
2. What repeated action words stand out in Colossians 3 when the passage is heard as “keep seeking” and “keep thinking”? [09:23]
3. In Matthew 3:16-17, what does the Father say over Jesus before Jesus begins His public ministry? [16:17]
4. In James 2:14-19, what example is given of someone speaking kindly to a person in need but not actually helping them? [27:26]

1. Colossians says to “set” the mind on things above and to “keep seeking” Christ. What does that suggest about the Christian life being ongoing rather than a one-time decision? [09:23]
2. The Father speaks love and pleasure over Jesus before any public miracles or preaching. How does that shape the way believers should understand love, identity, and performance before God? [16:17]
3. In Luke 15:31, the father tells the older son, “You are always with me, and everything I have is yours.” Why might someone who is already in the father’s house still think and live like a servant instead of a son? [23:49]
4. James says faith without works is dead. How does that challenge the idea that agreeing with true things about God is enough by itself? [27:26]

1. A transformed mind keeps returning to Jesus on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and not just on Sunday. What part of the week is most likely to pull attention away from Christ, and what could help refocus it? [06:20]
2. Many people quietly carry the lie, “I am unloved.” When that lie shows up, what words of truth from God need to be remembered, and why is that hard to believe in certain seasons? [14:31]
3. Performance-based faith can make every failure feel like a yellow card or red card. Where is there a tendency to relate to God mainly through doing well, and what would it look like to live more like a son or daughter than a servant? [21:34]
4. Faith is meant to become embodied. What is one practical way to put belief into motion this week for someone who is hungry, lonely, overlooked, or spiritually thirsty? [27:56]
5. Scripture needs to surround the day because many other messages are already shaping the mind. What simple habit could help keep God’s Word in front of the eyes and heart during ordinary routines? [33:26]
6. Meditation is worry turned toward truth. What anxious thought tends to repeat most often, and what verse or truth could be “mulled over” in its place this week? [34:06]
7. Learning can lead to loving. What part of Scripture or what truth about God would be worth studying more deeply right now, especially if deeper understanding might grow deeper affection? [36:37]