April 9, 2009
Mind of Christ
But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:16
What does it mean to have the mind of Christ? It means our thoughts line
up with His thoughts.
Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true,
whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure ,
whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any
virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things.”
When our thoughts are negative or do not line up with the truth of God,
we are not using the mind of Christ. Jesus thought and said those things which
were true. We tend to believe that whatever we see in this natural realm is the
truth. There is an unseen realm that is truer. For example, in Luke 8:52-53, a
little girl appeared dead, but Jesus spoke the truth from the unseen realm.
“Now all wept and mourned
for her; but He said, "Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping."
And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead.”
The people could not understand past what they could
see. They did not have the mind of Christ. Notice the people made fun of Him,
but she did rise and eat at His word.
Paul told the people in 1
Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit
of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned.” Our natural mind cannot
comprehend the spiritual things of God.
We must have our minds renewed to think and discern
spiritually with the mind of Christ.
Jesus said in John
6:63-64, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words
that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
But there are some of you who do not believe."
We must believe the spirit is life and truth in order to receive.
We must speak from our spirit, which is life, to produce life. When we speak
from what we know in our natural mind, it profits nothing. It is faith from the
renewed mind of Christ that moves God.
Jesus chastised his disciples in
Matthew 16:8-12, "O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves
because you have brought no bread?
Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves
of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up?
Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many
large baskets you took up? How is it you do not understand that I did not speak
to you concerning bread? — but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and
Sadducees." Jesus was telling the disciples to quit
thinking and reasoning naturally, but to think and discern spiritually. We must
operate in faith and walk in the spirit to understand the mind of Christ.
In Matthew 13:10, “…the
disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?"
In verses 13-14
Jesus answered, “…I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see,
and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. He
was saying that he could only speak to them in terms they could understand. The
parables gave them something they could see to compare to what Jesus was saying.
Because they did not have the mind of Christ, they could not see spiritually
what Jesus wanted to teach them.
And finally in John 16:12-14 Jesus said,
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will
guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but
whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”
We can only understand the things of God to the point our minds
have been renewed. To have the mind of Christ, we must allow the Holy Spirit to
guide us through the Word of God so we can be transformed by the renewing of our
mind.
One last piece of important information is that the word says,
“WE have the mind of Christ.”
Together we operate as Christ’s body. We need each other. We need
others to help us see things we don’t see ourselves. We need others to correct
us when we are not walking in the Spirit. We each know in part. (1 Corinthians
13:12) Let’s work together, “…till
we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to
a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
(Ephesians 4:13)
It begins with FAITH!
Believe the words of life!
The Spirit of God has much He wants to say to you today!
God bless your growth from faith to faith and glory to glory,
Janet Fairbrother