Having the Mind of Christ

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Monday, February 4, 2019

Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are soon forgotten.  No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God—his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began.  But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord.  That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”  But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit.  For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets.  No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit.  And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.  When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.  But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit.  It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.  Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others.  For, “Who can know the Lord’s thoughts?  Who knows enough to teach him?”  But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.  1 Corinthians 2:6-16(NLT)

Inside stories are a puzzle to those on the outside.  It may be something simple, like a 4-digit code to get in your mower shed; you’re the one who owns the lock, so you know that simple code.  Outsiders have to use their own mower.

Those who have become God's children through faith in Christ also understand the family ways and the inside stories. 

If you had ever had the opportunity to sit down to dinner with my Mom and Dad, and part of the meal is pickled red cabbage, you’d have thought my mother lost her mind.  The reason is an inside family joke.  Years ago, someone mispronounced it while setting it out on the table.  Since that moment Mom has not been able to look at "Red Garbage" without breaking up. 

Inside jokes are what make family reunions great.  You tell the same story for the 1,800th time, and it is enjoyed better every year.  There is much laughter in the family of God.  And God approves!  In fact, He created us with a built-in capacity and need for joy! 

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.  Proverbs 17:22(NLT)

The mind of Christ is an inside-the-family concept.  Simply expressed, it is thinking like Jesus, so you can be more like Jesus.  Now, if that’s all you have of the story, you’re liable to miss the key ingredient, the code that unlocks this shed.  It is only by the Spirit of God that you receive the mind of Christ.  The Apostle said it clearly – NO human mind has imagined what’s on God’s mind!  You just cannot read the Bible, weigh its advice, and decide to have the mind of Christ.  It is a gift to those who give their hearts to Christ.

Paul was a brilliant man, schooled at the feet of Israel’s best scholars…yet he was as lost as a goose in a snowstorm when it came to understanding God’s simplest blessing – the Gospel.  He missed it like a man on a pogo stick trying to jump up to the moon.  But when he finally surrendered his will, his life, energy, and thoughts to God, everything fell into place.

If you read the account of Paul’s surrender to Christ in Acts 9, you find he went blind.  Once he committed his life to the Lord, God sent him to the home of a believer named Ananias.  This man prayed for Paul, and the scales of blindness fell off his eyes; he then saw God’s plan clearly.  Paul now had the mind of Christ spreading over his consciousness like a warm friend’s embrace.  In obedience, Paul lived with that understanding the rest of his life.

For You Today

The mind of Christ makes big changes.  

You ready for that?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

Go to VIDEO

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[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com

No Need to Knock - part 1

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Thursday, January 5, 2017

 And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”  Galatians 4:6^(NLT)

In the wee hours of a summer morning in 1986, our family was sleeping soundly.  That blissful peace was interrupted by a scream, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy..."  A man (whom the police later called the "I-75 Cat Burglar") had come in my daughters' bedroom window.  He brazenly checked the contents of the house while we all slept.  He even perused our medicine cabinet and refrigerator. 

Jennifer was only 15 at the time.  She was a light sleeper, and awoke to the man's movement near her bed.  She was paralyzed with fear, and could not get the words out until after the man noticed her, and fled the house.  Then her screams woke the household (and the neighborhood dead)!  My search for the old .22 rifle was too late.  (I'd probably have shot myself in the leg anyway.) 

It seems unnecessary to add that the man was not welcome, an intruder.

Our household is an empty nest now; our children are all grown now with families of their own.  When they can they visit, and when they do, they don't need to knock before coming in.  They are not strangers, they're welcome.  They're not intruders, they're loved family.  They don't sneak in the bedroom windows in the darkness, they walk right in the front or back door in the daylight.  And they don't need to knock!

God's children don't need to knock either!  In the family of God there is constant access to the Father. 

We used to have an Alaskan Malamute dog named Saami – 100 lbs of Salesman Smart-Missile.  She had a particular distaste for anyone trying to sell you something at the front door.  For these strangers there was no constant access (or any access)!  Saami would protect the family!

God's children also understand the family ways and the inside jokes of the family.  Human families have their inside stories. 

If you had ever had the opportunity to sit down to dinner with my Mom and Dad, and part of the meal is pickled red cabbage, you’d have thought my mother lost her mind.  The reason is an inside family joke.  Years ago someone mispronounced it while setting it out on the table.  Since that moment Mom has not been able to look at "Red Garbage" without breaking up. 

Inside jokes are what make family reunions great.  You tell the same story for the 1,800th time, and it is enjoyed better every year.

There is much laughter in the family of God.  And God approves!  In fact, He created us with a built-in capacity and need for joy!

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.  Proverbs 17:22^(NLT)

Theologian Helmut Thielicke put it in perspective,

Should we not see that lines of laughter about the eyes are just as much marks of faith as are the lines of care and seriousness?  Is it only earnestness that is baptized?  Is laughter pagan?  We have already allowed too much that is good to be lost to the church and cast many pearls before swine.  A church is in a bad way when it banishes laughter from the sanctuary and leaves it to the cabaret, the nightclubj and the toastmasters.[ii]

For You Today

Inside jokes, plenty of laughter and no need to knock – sounds like family to me.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

NOTES

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[i] Title image: By Scrypted (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

[ii] Helmut Thielicke, quoted by THE BIBLE ILLUSTRATOR, (Hiawatha, Ia, Parsons                     Technology, 1990), Idx 1926-1943