Tuesday: The Mind of Christ
Some people believe that by changing the environment the individual will be transformed. Definitely, we should avoid places and circumstances that can make us more vulnerable to temptation (Psalm 1:1, Proverbs 5:1-8). But our problem with temptation and sin can be solved only by the transformation of our own hearts (or minds). Christ touched the core of the issue when He stated, “For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come — sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly” (Mark 7:21-22, NIV). This means that our minds need to be transformed in order for our behavior to be changed.
Read the following texts: 1 Corinthians 2:16; Psalms 24:3-4; Romans 12:2; Philippians 4:8; and Colossians 3:2. What does it mean to have the “mind of Christ”?
Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com
The Lord had promised that under the “new covenant” He would put His law in the minds of His people and write it on their hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-33, compare with Hebrews 8:8-10, Hebrews 10:16). It is no surprise, then, that in the Sermon on the Mount, Christ broadened and deepened the meaning of God’s commandments to the level of thoughts and intentions (see Matthew 5:17-48). So, we can gain victory over temptation only by God’s transforming grace and, at the level of thoughts and intentions, we should claim that promise so that we can stop sinful thoughts.
We will always have sinful natures until Jesus comes. But if we are in Christ, we are fully covered by His righteousness. Although we are not yet perfect, we are considered already perfect in Him (Philippians 3:12-15). “When we are united to Christ, we have the mind of Christ. Purity and love shine forth in the character, meekness and truth control the life. The very expression of the countenance is changed. Christ abiding in the soul exerts a transforming power, and the outward aspect bears witness to the peace and joy that reign within.” — Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, p. 337.
Only by a daily surrender, a daily death to self, a daily determined effort, by faith, to be obedient to Jesus can we have this kind of transformation in our lives.
| Imagine what your life would be like if you could stop even sinful thoughts. How different would your life be? What is the only potential way to have this be your experience? |
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Most of us like "automatic". I have a camera which has automatic exposure. In fact, it has several automatic exposure methods and without going into the detail, it is a lot quicker than reading the light values on a light meter then transferring the values by hand to your camera.
I also have an automatic car. It automatically changes gear when it has to; it keeps the right speed, and it even has radar cruise control that keeps me from crashing into the cars in front of me. It has line detection which means that if you try to change lanes without indicating it will give you a little nudge back to the lane. It also makes a big fuss if you try to change lanes while there is a car in your blind spot.
When Paul says, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:"(Phil 2:5) did he mean that we go on automatic?
Is it like when we have the car on automatic? The car's automated system gives us a lot of help but we are still responsible for making decisions.
Just a little thought to challenge your thinking!
What is something about "the mind of Christ" that you are in awe of? A characteristic of Jesus which you most want to become a core trait in yourself?
For me, it's learning to accept less than I think I am due. Not taking things personally. I feel like when I bend beyond what would be "normally" expected to grant good to those who are acting unkind or ungrateful, I'm aware of how often I feel frustrated and hurt inside...like Peter's dialogue with Jesus about the 70x7 times of forgiving (Matt. 18:21-22).
Jesus was not personally offended because He was so connected to His Father that He knew everything He was doing was aligned with His Father's will, there was no doubt that what He was projecting out into the world was 100% pure and true. Jesus was 100% aligned with His deepest desires. There was not an internal conflict between the good you would like to do and what is actually coming out (Rom. 7:19-25). I would like to hear God's voice all the time and be always ready to yield to His direction like that, and get all my self-worth only from what God thinks of me and how God values me.
Out of Jesus' pure heart we hear something like,"You may have offended me, you may have mistreated me, you may have misjudged me, worse than that you may have misrepresented me and ruined my reputation with so many, you may have not given me what I deserve, you may have acted with hostility against me unjustly, you may have shaken your fist in my face, you may have been my enemy, I may be the recipient of your unfair treatment, inequity, injustice, lies, humiliation and hatred....but I humbly and graciously accept you and reach out to you in love."
Paul says something like, "If I get something fine, if I don't fine, if I'm treated a certain way fine, if I'm treated this other way fine, it doesn't really matter to me, I'm not concerned about me, I'm not the issue and therefore in whatever state I find myself I'm absolutely content" (Phil 4:11-12).
John the Baptist echoed this unselfing when he said, "Jesus must increase and I must decrease." (John 3:30)
Joseph was so very unfairly treated by his brothers and yet he said, "Fear not for am I in the place of God? You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. (Gen. 50:20-21)
Just wow, that's the sweet reasonableness, the gentleness, the mildness, the mercy towards the faults and failures of others, the big-heartedness of our Lord. The mind of Jesus who pleads our case, speaks for us, works on our behalf (1 John 2:1). What a beautiful mind and heart.
Good things come out of good thoughts. We can become what we think! Our thoughts are really powerful, that's why we need to be aware of what we think. How would it be possible to change what we think? How can we "be transformed by the renewing of our mind"? This is a miracle that we can have while experiencing JESUS. He can "put His laws in our mind and write them on our hearts; and He will be our God, and we shall be His people"! Let's be open to Christ's mindset, and choose it TODAY:)
To have the “mind of Christ” means - without Christ, we naturally have a mind informed solely by our wants and wishes. Our personal interpretation of events skews reality; and we can imagine only that which benefits us personally. Without Christ, we solve problems in ways that maximize our interests and pleasure. Our ideas and reasoning naturally do not consider the presence and power of God.
Thank you for all these comments. It helps me so much. Keep them coming! Merry Christmas! Remember when you are shopping at a retail store, it's not the cashier's fault. I work in retail and a lot of people you have to pray for.
Romans 8:2 is the "Law" that gives us freedom from "The Law of Sin and death." It is the Law of God's Holy Spirit in our hearts and lives. It is not our own efforts to try to keep any of the 10 commandments at all but our faith in what Jesus has done and will do for us via His Holy Spirit and via His Words in The Bible like for example: 2 Corinthians 10:4,5; to make our thoughts to be in obedience to Jesus' own thoughts.
I hold that our mind will be transformed when we find ourselves having decided to love God with all our heart, mind, and strength, and when we show this by loving our fellow man accordingly – Matt.22:36-40. I cannot see a Christian being able to be double minded – one mindset that benefits him/herself, the other attempting to establish a meaningful relationship with our Savior; in my opinion, it can only be one or the other.
Our heavenly Father's promise to ‘put the law into our heart and mind’ still has to be received by a willing, humble heart and mind. When we, like Jesus, have our focus strictly on humbly ‘living according to the will of God’, we can deal with temptations rationally, undergirded by the emotional assurance that Jesus also walked this way of overcoming the attempts of the ‘flesh’ to compromise His love for the Father.
'It is God’s marvelous Grace which has brought me safe so far, and it will lead me home!' No longer the need to second-guess or find a better way to live one’s life. Having accepted the offer of a renewed heart and mind - living our life ‘in Christ Jesus’ - provides the safe assurance that “purity and love shine forth in the character, (and) meekness and truth control the life." – Ellen G. White’s quote.
What more do we want or need? Our Joy in the Savior is the radiance of a fearless life!
Hi, Brigitte. I very much appreciate your remarks. I would only add two things.
One is that your statement -- that our mind will be transformed when we have made certain decisions, or taken certain steps -- is only true in the context of having claimed God's promises by faith. The making of those decisions, or the taking of those steps, would be evidence of our sincerity. Conversely, our holding back from a full commitment to God would show the insincerity of our prayer for Holy Spirit regeneration, and would explain why it is going unanswered. I make this clarification because every aspect of the righteousness of Christ, imputed or imparted to us, comes to us by faith. It is not by any works of righteousness that we can do, nor by any commitment that we can make.
The second thing is to observe that Paul often uses the "flesh" as a metaphor for the inherent corruption of our human nature. So, as with "human weakness," if we are going to suggest that Jesus had to resist the clamours of the flesh, I strongly suggest that we need to be clear that this could only be true in the most literal sense. That is, He had to deal with hunger, weariness, etc.
Have a blessed day!
R. G. White:
God's word testifies that Jesus was made like unto his brethren, that He was tempted as we are tempted, yet without sin(He didn't give into the temptation as I have: Praise God.):
Hi, Peter. Indeed, Jesus became a human being without, of course, ceasing to be the divine Son of God. He was tempted like the born-again, supernaturally regenerated Christian is tempted (the "we" of Hebrews 4:15), being pressured to throw away His confidence in the Father and to give in to the suggestions of the enemy in order to find relief.
But, if you mean to suggest the more extreme proposition that Jesus was inherently no different from the natural man, then it seems you may not understand how hopelessly and helplessly sinful we are right from the start.
Concerning the sinless Adam and Eve, Seventh-day Adventist pioneer Ellen White wrote:
As to the effect that the fall of Adam had on the human race, she wrote:
Clearly, the sin of Adam and Eve depraved, not only their own nature, but that of their posterity. Yet I trust that no one will suggest that Jesus was "depraved," and without any natural disposition to resist Satan.
David wrote:
According to Romans 7:14-20, sin is not just something we do; it is something that dwells in us. It is a part of who we are, and how we are, apart from Christ, and it renders us helpless and hopeless. Jesus was "without sin;" no sin ever dwelt in Him. The wellsprings of His heart were ever pure, and His righteousness is our only hope, through a connection with Him by faith.
And most powerfully, R.G. – Our Lord and Savior’s Love for mankind opened the way for us to be saved; to all who believe that He is the Son of God who came to give life to those who are dead in their trespasses and sins.
He brought salvation to those who believe in the power of God to save those who are lost. It is not so much a matter of the purity of our Savior’s life, but rather the strength of His Love for the lost sinner who would have had to die without His willingness to love His Father without fail.
Our hope of a new life, therefore, rests entirely on How much He loved humanity. He loved us in that He remained faithful in His love of His Father as He submitted to Him to live His Will. Humbly acknowledging that He is the Author and Finisher of our faith will sustain us in this life.
I appreciate your point, Brigitte. To me, the purity of Jesus' life -- and more precisely, the purity of His heart and His very nature -- is synonymous with the strength of His love. But I appreciate the emphasis.
One other thing that I hope our readers will not miss is that Jesus is not merely the son of the Principal; He is the Principal. Jesus is not just the son of the Creator; He is the Creator, according to such Scriptures as John 1:1-3, Colossians 1:16-17, and John 10:30.
If you work for a family business, operated by a father and son, when the two of them disagree, the father prevails. I had that experience in the summer of 1975. One sunny July day, when working as a carpenter's helper, I was in danger of heatstroke, and could not finish out the day's work. I was immediately fired by the son, but later reinstated by the father.
Of course, the Godhead does not have that problem. They always agree, even on the deepest level. Their "employees" are all of Their created beings, and the Son has just as much authority over them as does the Father.
Reading the gospel accounts, I get the impression that Jesus was well aware of the fact that He was Israel's God, and of the fact that the scribes and Pharisees were (in a way unwittingly) showing contempt for their King. (See Luke 19:14.) While, as our Example, Jesus carefully followed the Father's will in every aspect of His life, when it came to such matters as raising the dead or ultimately deciding the fate of His detractors, Jesus admitted no limits to His authority.
Let us exalt Jesus to the highest heaven, not only for His impeccable character and amazing love, but for His divine majesty and benevolence.