God’s Mindset List
Each year, Beloit
College in Wisconsin releases its
Beloit College Mindset List. “A creation of Beloit’s Keefer Professor of
the Humanities Tom McBride and Public Affairs Director Ron Nief, it looks at the
cultural touchstones that have shaped the lives of today’s first-year students”
(Beloit webpage, Beloit.edu). The list offers a number of facts that are common
to the 18 year-old students entering college that year. You may have seen some
of these kinds of lists floating around the internet. Following are a few
examples from the list for the class entering college in 2006 (the class of 2010).
For these students: (1) Billy Carter, Lucille Ball, Gilda Radner, Billy Martin,
Andy Gibb, and Secretariat have always been dead; (2)
the Soviet Union has never existed and therefore is about
as scary as the student union; (3) they have known only two presidents; (4)
there has always been only one Germany (5) they have never heard anyone actually
"ring it up" on a cash register; (6) they are wireless, yet always connected;
(7) thanks to pervasive headphones in the back seat, parents have always been
able to speak freely in the front; (8) "Google" has always been a verb; (9) text
messaging is their email; (10) Mr. Rogers, not Walter Cronkite, has always been
the most trusted man in America; (11) Madden has always been a game, not a
Superbowl-winning coach.
While some of these facts are somewhat tongue-in-cheek, McBride
and Neif suggest that it is these kinds of facts that help shape the mindset and
outlook of each generation. According to the two researchers, the class of 2010
is “a generation that has always been ‘connected’ and is used to things
happening in ‘real time,’ like live satellite coverage of revolutions and wars,
instant messaging and movies on demand. They expect solutions for every problem,
from baldness to diseased organs. To the chagrin of teachers and parents,
they’ve developed their own generational means of communication” (ibid).
It is interesting to ponder what kinds of things may have shaped our own mindset. Sadly, our “mindset” (worldview, outlook, focus) tends to be shaped by events and things of the world. It is difficult not to be affected by the world around us. But Paul tells us in Col 3.1-2 that we must not let it shape our mindset: “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.” The goal of a Christian is to stay focused on the things above (spiritual matters, the things of God), not on the things on earth. Or perhaps that is the means to a goal. The goal is rather to let the things above shape our lives into Christ-likeness (cf. vs.3-4). The means to the goal is setting our minds on the things above. In other words, our mindset shapes our lives, but what shapes our mindset? Obviously our mindset is shaped by what our minds are set on. So as difficult as it is, we must set our minds on the things above, not on the things on the earth. So if God had a Kingdom of Heaven Mindset List for those students (disciples) graduating into heaven each year, what kinds of things would be on it?
© 2006 Randy Hohf