Pass and Nietert Focus on Mindset
Denise Pass and Michelle Nietert. 2022. Make Up Your Mind: Unlock Your Thoughts, Transform Your Life. Nashville: Random House.
Review by Stephen W. Hiemstra
One of the take-aways from working in psychiatrics was advice that Sister Maureen gave me at Providence Hospital. Psychiatric patients ruminate. Try to get them to substitute a short prayer, like the Jesus prayer, for this negative self-talk.
Introduction
In Make Up Your Mind, Denise Pass and Michelle Nietert take this advice a step further. They write: “Having a healthy mindset is the key to a victorious life…Mindsets develop from thoughts and spiritual strongholds that we allow to supersede God’s word.” (13-14) They go on to say: “Rather than being a victim of our mindsets, we can drill down and keep asking questions until we discover why we are trapped in unproductive thought patterns.” (20).
They show that a surprising number of scripture passages focus on reforming our mindsets. For example, Proverbs 4:23 advises: “Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.”
This book centers the reader on God and on defeating the more common self-sabotage. While this may sound simple, life expectancy in the United States has been falling for preventable reasons, like suicide, drug overdoses, and refusing vaccination. If most trips to the emergency department at your local hospital could have been prevented, why aren’t they? Negative mindsets de-center our lives and lead us where we do not want to go.
Background and Organization
Denise Pass is an author and PhD student a Liberty University. Michelle Nietert is an author and licensed counselor.
They write in twelve chapters:
Why are You Here?
The Angry Mindset—Battling Bitterness and Unforgiveness
The Anxious Mindset—Battling Fear and Worry, Restoring Peace
The Depressive Mindset—Battling Discouragement and Disillusionment
The Discontented Mindset—Battling Comparison and Pride
The Doubtful Mindset—Battling Unbelief and Hopelessness
The Helpless Mindset—Battling Apathy and Weakness
The Hurried Mindset—Battling Overcommitment and Margin
The Lonely Mindset—Battling Grief and Isolation
The Scarcity Mindset—Battling Covetousness and Lust
The Victim Mindset—Battling Insecurity and Rejection
The Mind of Christ (11-12)
These chapters are preceded by Endorsements, Dedication, Acknowledgments, and Introduction. They are followed by endnotes.
In each chapter the division of labor between the authors is well-defined. Pass wrote the chapters while Nietert added observations in the section called the Counselor’s Corner.
Motivations—Why are You Here?
A negative mindset is an “unproductive thought pattern” (20) that serves as a default when we think about things. Elijah is a case in point. After defeating the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, he cowards from fear at threats from Queen Jezebel. Elijah runs away and hides in a cave. God ministers to him, but asks: “Why are you here?” (1 Kgs 19:13; 22-24). The next thing we hear about is God asking Elijah to anoint his replacement—a negative mindset defeated one of God’s most glorious prophets (1 Kgs 19:16).
Pass asks: what triggers our negative mindsets? (25) The triggers are voluminous—peer pressure, self-focus, personality predispositions, negativity (26-28). Pass and Nietert advise us to know ourselves, build critical thinking skills, adopt a biblical worldview, and self-examination (29-31).
Habits of the Mind
Pass offers a three-step template for reforming your mindset:
Recognize the mindset.
Repent of the sin involved in the mindset.
Return to the mind of Christ (243).
The key verse is: “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Cor 2:16) The mind of Christ is, of course, available to us through the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 2:10).
A more detailed description of the mind of Christ is given in the Book of Isaiah:
“And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.” (Isa. 11:2-5 ESV)
Pass describes these attributes as the sevenfold Spirit of God (250).
Assessment
In their book, Make Up Your Mind: Unlock Your Thoughts, Transform Your Life, Denise Pass and Michelle Nietert walk us through an exhaustive list of negative mindsets that can afflict your faith and keep you from living a full life in Christ. They employ numerous examples from their own life experiences and from scripture, and write in an accessible style.
Footnotes
Pass and Nietert Focus on Mindset
Also see:
Hilt Explains Tropes
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Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
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