“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines mindset as a “mental attitude or inclination.” A fixed mindset is the belief that your current skills and intelligence are set in stone, while a growth mindset is having confidence that you can gain new talents and knowledge to meet a challenge or opportunity.
When you’re faced with a difficult task, something beyond the reach of your current skills, what do you do? Do you lean into the attempt, knowing it won’t be easy but trusting God to help you rise to the occasion? Or do you step back, doubting your ability to stretch to the work required?
The reality is that what you can achieve often depends on whether you believe you can.
Moses needed to change his mindset to change his life
While the many Biblical people had an empowered mindset, the Bible also provides examples of a fixed mindset. A fixed mindset can be seen when you fail to trust in God’s plan for your life. It causes you to allow that fear to hold you back from embracing God’s grace and moving forward in faith.
In the Bible, Moses’s first reaction when God told him to go lead the Israelites out of Egypt showed his fixed mindset. God said to go, but Moses didn’t believe he had what it took. “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11)
God kept reassuring Moses, promising miracles and even wealth, but Moses insisted he wasn’t the man for the job. God had to demonstrate a few miracles before Moses finally agreed to return to Egypt and give it a try. Even then, Moses begged not to be the one to speak before Pharaoh, insisting he wasn’t very good with words. “I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.” (Exodus 4:10)
Sound familiar? Have you ever avoided a public speaking moment, using this same excuse? But God wasn’t buying it. He replied to Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord?” (Exodus 4:11) There’s a reason this is called a fixed mindset. Even with the Almighty God in his presence, telling him he’d give him the words he needed, Moses refused to believe it.
Despite Moses’s fixed mindset, he took the first steps forward, which allowed God to show up and gave him all the skills he needed to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.
Is your mindset holding you back from a changed life?
It’s easy to read Moses’s story and wonder why in the world he was so worried. God was able to send plagues and part a sea to free the Israelites. Why did Moses hesitate?
But don’t we do the same thing? When God calls you to take risks and embrace challenges, how likely are you to hold back? How often are you like Moses, asking, “Who am I to do this thing?” How many opportunities have you missed because you believed you didn’t have the right abilities?
Maybe you’re afraid of failure. But even in failure, God’s there. As Albert Einstein put it, “Failure is success in progress.” Failure hones your skills so that the next time you make the attempt, you’ve got at least one lesson learned. Failure is also your chance to lean on God and recognize that He’ll keep leading you through and using your failures as opportunities for personal growth. As Thomas Edison said in his journey to create the light bulb, “Of the 200 light bulbs that didn’t work, every failure told me something that I was able to incorporate into the next attempt.”
Or maybe you find it hard to trust God’s presence in your life. Moses may have had a burning bush but how do you know God’s really there for you? The first step is to actively look for His blessings.
Where has God shown up for you? Think about your week, not just finding the positive in what went wrong but consider where things could have gone wrong and didn’t. God is in those moments, especially the ones where a thousand things could have knocked your day off course. There are so many minutes in our lives that tick by uneventfully, and we rarely pause to think about what sort of tragedies God protected us from. Recognizing these many moments will begin to shift your mindset and start to change your life.
Start with a few small steps to change your mindset and your life
Romans 12:2 encourages us to be transformed “into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
Ready to change your mindset and change your life? Here are a few ways to get started:
- Check out the Bible Reading Plans on the LCBC website and in the app.
- Tune into the LCBC Daily Life podcast and subscribe to the Daily Life devotional.
- Get connected with a Group or find ways to serve to open your eyes to the ways God can use you to impact others.
- Develop a daily gratitude habit by journaling and focusing on Scriptures that remind you of God’s faithfulness.
- Give yourself grace. Changing your mindset takes time, but the effort is well worth it to see how your life can change.
Remember that big changes start with small steps. If God could part the Red Sea and free the Israelites from slavery, imagine what He can do in your life. You just need to work on changing your mind.
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LCBC stands for Lives Changed By Christ. We are one church in multiple locations across Pennsylvania. Find the location closest to you or join us for Church Online. We can’t wait to connect with you!