In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the Word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing – Ezra 1:1
How can someone change his mind about something? I mean, seriously, if your mind thinks a certain way – say, you really enjoy spending money, which runs up your credit card debt, which maybe you don’t enjoy – how could you go about changing your own mind on the subject? After all, your behavior is driven by what you think. Yet, we’re talking about YOUR mind, which is yours, so how could you – the person whose mind it is – change your own thinking?
To address this issue, I’d like to first suggest that everything that you do is driven by your values. In other words, your actions are always based on what you think is worthwhile. If a robber tries to take your wallet at gunpoint, your first thought might be that you value your hard-earned money, so you don’t want to relinquish your wallet. Your second thought might be to consider how much you value not getting shot. You might compare your life to your money and perhaps decide to hand over the cash, despite its absolute value but in accord with its relative value.
Similarly, if a family member interrupts a video to ask you to help set the table for dinner, you might weigh the value of personal entertainment versus peace in the home. What you do is driven by your values. Sometimes we act before we think too deeply about the relative values. This is often called “intuition”, but it is still based on underlying, subconscious values.
This concept is so fundamental that people sometimes take our actions as proof of our underlying values. I’m thinking here of a teacher who asked me why I didn’t do my homework. I explained that I had forgotten about it. She replied, “If it was important to you, you’d have remembered.” She wanted me not only to learn the coursework but also that my values drive my actions.
As we have discussed before, we all experience passionate ambivalence – we desire two conflicting things. We want to have a bowl of ice cream AND we want to lose weight. Ultimately, our decision will be based on which thing we consider more valuable in the moment.
This is not to say that we always choose correctly, nor does it mean that we won’t have regrets. It just means that we decide based on how we are thinking of the relative value of each option. And sometimes, we squander opportunities by attempting to not think at all – we just do something and deal with the consequences later – like racking up credit card debt.
How can someone change his own mind? By increasing his own clarity about his relative values prior to encountering situations that demand decisions. He could assess the degree to which he likes certain things more than others and then commit these assessments to his conscious memory. This enables him to have fewer regrets about his snap decisions. In this sense, he is exploring his own mind, getting to know himself better: “I truly hate debt more than I hate not having something that I want to purchase.” Underlying values become consciously established ones. As you see, he wouldn’t primarily be changing his mind, he’d be knowing his mind better. Still, this IS changing his mind, because his explored values change how he thinks about things.
The king of Persia enjoyed ruling over the Israelites. He was their king and he liked it. As recounted in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, he didn’t change his mind and then let the Israelites return from captivity to rebuild Jerusalem.
No, this was not an exploration of his underlying values and a recognition that he really did want to free the Israelites. Rather, the Holy Spirit gave him a new set of values. “The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation.” Cyrus’ decree is an historical fact grounded in God’s Word.
This week, you could change your mind by re-considering how you prioritize your values. You could trust your own assessment to do this.
Alternatively, you could ask God to re-prioritize your values by the work of His Spirit through His Word – hearing His values and taking them on as yours.
Some of your values are sinful. I pray that you change your mind to glorifying and enjoying Him. As God’s Word changes your mind, Christ becomes YOUR highest value.
