Set Your Mind: Scripture Writing Plan for January 2020

“If I am to love the Lord my God with all my mind, there will not be room in it for carnality, for pride, for anxiety, for the love of myself. How can the mind be filled with the love of the Lord and have space left over for things like that?”

~ Elisabeth Elliot

The end of a year is a time of reflection and preparation.

It is a time to reflect on the year that is passing away—loved ones who’ve passed on, new friends who’ve entered in, achievements made or missed—and a time to prepare for the road ahead. To enter a new year purposefully, some people choose words, others set goals, and there are still a few who make resolutions.

No matter how you approach this new year and new decade, make this one thing your habit every morning: Set your mind on Christ.

When you a drive a vehicle, you determine the direction of that vehicle by first determining in your mind what direction you want to travel. If you want to move in reverse, you know you’ll have to shift gears and press the gas pedal to go in reverse. You’ll check your mirrors, look behind you, and/or use your backup camera and touch the gas pedal. If you want to drive forward, you put the car in drive, look ahead, hit the gas, and keep that steering wheel steady. If you start looking elsewhere or get distracted by something inside the car, you’ll often drift into other lanes, crash, or simply start moving in the wrong direction. To get where you want to go, you have to set your mind, not only on the destination, but on the manner in which you get there. 

Frankly, I do not want to show up at my destination banged up from a crash of my own making. Worse still would be to never make it at all because I died while distracted by something unimportant.

Walking with Christ is our journey; the road is life, and the destination, heaven. At the end of the day, the year, or the decade, I should be asking myself the following:

Have I set my mind on 1) walking with Christ, and 2) being with Him in eternity?

Or…

…am I allowing myself to be distracted by worldly pleasures and cares?

We will not get to heaven without Jesus. In order to reach His home, we have to belong to Him and walk with Him. We must set our minds on following His lead, keeping our eyes on Him every hour of every day. He must be the reason give our best to our families, our jobs, our congregations, and all our efforts. Am I serving Him or serving myself? Is something or someone else ruling my mind?

This month’s scripture writing plan is a selection of scriptures focusing on the mindset of those who follow Christ. Colossians 3, Romans 12, and Philippians 3 all focus on setting the mind, renewing the mind, and having the mind of Christ, respectively. There are additional scriptures about making plans, and guarding our hearts. Everything we do should be done with Jesus foremost in our minds. How we approach work, service, relationships, and plans should all be directly connected to pleasing Christ.

Set your mind on Jesus today, and in the year to come!

To download a printable copy, click the link below:

Jan 2020 Scripture Writing half sheet

In addition to these plans, I usually post some reflections about each day’s writing on Facebook, Instagram (@elihuscorner), and (sometimes) Twitter(@elihuscorner).

If you are interested in a different plan for January, check out last year’s January plan (Renew! Refresh! Revive!) or look up any of our other scripture writing plans by clicking the category in the sidebar.

I wouldn’t be nearly as effective in this work if I didn’t have the help and encouragement of my family and friends. I want to say a special thank you to Liz Smith for proofreading the list for errors and offering theme suggestions throughout this past year.

I also want to thank you, my readers and fellow laborers in the gospel for sticking with me over the past several years I’ve been blogging. Thank you for reading, commenting, praying, and encouraging! If the Lord wills, I will continue my efforts in the coming year. Please pray for me to hold fast to the word of life and to have strength to continue working in the service of the Lord.