Having the mind of Christ means having the mind of God, because who is the Christ? “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” (Hebrews 1:3). “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,” (Colossians 1:19).
Who is Christ but the One whom God the Father calls God? “But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.” (Hebrews 1:8)
In Isaiah 55:7-9, the Lord says, “let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
How many of us often understood these verses to almost say, “You cannot ever reach Me”? But what the Lord is telling us is not that we cannot resemble Him, it is that so long as we operate in wickedness and unrighteousness, we can never be in His image and likeness.
The Beginning of Having the Mind of Christ
He tells us to abandon wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts so we are returned to the Lord, because the Lord’s ways and thoughts are much higher than wicked ways and unrighteous ways in the same way the heavens are higher than the earth. Meaning, these wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts are endlessly beneath God’s image and likeness because the heavens (universe) do not end.
The distance between earth and the heavens is infinite. God’s ways and thoughts are infinitely higher, while wicked, unrighteous ways and thoughts are infinitely lower. It is like being at polar opposite ends that are infinitely apart. This means that abandoning wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts can only ever equate to adopting the mind of God, for only God is good (Mark 10:18) and only Christ is the light of the world.
“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” – John 8:12 ESV
Why am I certain that abandoning wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts is adopting God’s higher ways and thoughts? Because one cannot serve two masters; they will love one and hate the other. There is no limbo or being in-between darkness and light. You are either in the dark and growing deeper into darkness, or you’ve entered the light and are maturing in the light.
Behold:
“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” – 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 ESV
Glossary
Natural Person: The fallen human being who lives as mere flesh and blood, having no capacity to reach their human spirit, living only as their soul (emotions and thoughts), for, the human spirit belongs to the Spirit of God from whom it came, and it shall return to Him. Only by having the Spirit of God in our midst do we have the key to our human spirit; thus, we are spiritual only through and by the Spirit of God.
“and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” – Ecclesiastes 12:7 ESV
Spiritual Person: The human spirit is one Spirit with the Lord. And the human soul is controlled by the human spirit which is one spirit with the Lord. Therefore, a spiritual person is the one who is led by the Spirit of God, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” – Romans 8:14
“But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.” – 1 Corinthians 6:17 ESV
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The Spirit of God is the Key to the Mind of Christ
“For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” – 1 Corinthians 2:11 ESV
The difference between Saul (the Christian killer) and Paul (the Apostle) is the mind of Christ through the Holy Spirit. The difference between the Peter who denied Christ 3 times and the Peter who wrote letters that are the Word of God is the mind of Christ, all by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit: the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of the Father; the One who is the Spirit of God Almighty.
As members of the Body of Christ, we were taken from being natural (spiritually dead) to being supernatural (spiritually alive) by the sacrificial blood of the Perfect Lamb. We were redeemed to how we were before the fall: in perfect communion with God and His glory.
God said we would ‘surely die’ when we ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and we did, because sin (going against God’s loving, all-knowing, wise command [to not eat the fruit]) brought forth death. After all, God is the light and life, and rebelling against light and life can only equate to darkness and death.
I love to mention that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not some form of temptation by God. This holy, just God could not deny His all-knowingness. He could not deny Himself. He could not deny what He knows could (unfortunately) happen (regarding the reality of evil). So the tree had to be there among all the other trees in the name of Truth. Secondly, because He is holy and just, He could never make mindless slaves without the freedom of choice.
Having the Holy Spirit in Your Midst
Why is Christianity the only true, complete religion of Truth? Because of the reality of the Holy Spirit, who is God, in whom holy scripture written by human hands is Holy Scripture because of this Spirit of God.
No other religion acknowledges the Holy Spirit as God, and so only the Bible is the holy Word of God, in which the Spirit of God is revealed, and through whom human hands wrote what is therefore the Word of God. Without the Holy Spirit of God, all scripture evidently written by human hand is not the Word of God and is not Holy Scripture.
If it’s said to be scripture inspired by an angel, then it’s the word of an angel. If it’s by a prophet then it’s the word of a prophet. If it’s by a human then it’s the word of a human. Only if it is written by God can it be the Word of God, isn’t it? It most certainly is.
Reading and meditating (pondering continuously) on the Word of God is therefore engaging with the Holy Spirit in your human capacity. But this human capacity must without delay evolve into the human spirit’s capacity, because then this is when it is the Holy Spirit as the Word of God (and God is His Word) living through us.
The Word of God must be ingested and absorbed into us (through our senses) so that it is living in us (through our soul and spirit), and indeed the Word of God living in us is the Holy Spirit living in us. “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” – 2 Corinthians 3:17-18
May your mind be renewed, your faith be strengthened, and your peace be anchored in Christ, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Renew your mind and build emotional resilience with spiritual growth through biblical truth.
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