His was no mere mind

First I greet all who come here: He is risen! We have a living Savior, one who walks with us in this dark and sinful world. Celebrate this day with joyful hearts.

Yesterday I wrote about human thinking vs. godly thinking, and it is still on my mind. While the Bible is so clear on the differences, it seems far too easy for Christians, myself included, to think like the world thinks instead of thinking with the mind of Christ.

Scripture comes at this from different angles. Some places it says we must walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Others say put off the old nature and put on the new. Galatians 5 describes and contrasts the sinful deeds of the flesh with the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

The passage that caught my attention this morning is 1 Corinthians 3:1-4. It says, “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? For when one says, ‘I follow Paul,’ and another, ‘I follow Apollos,’ are you not mere men?”

The term “mere” says it all. Worldly human thinking compared to thinking with the mind of Christ is “mere,” nothing more than worldly thinking, and the slightest or least way to think. Anyone can be a mere human being, but only a child of God can rise above that—yet not because children of God have better brains. It is only because we have Christ and therefore have His mind.

It sounds so simple. Who wouldn’t want to get their minds up there, with God’s? But it isn’t as simple as it sounds. This passage describes the ease with which we slip into mere human thoughts.

First, every time I am jealous, I’m thinking mere human thoughts. My sinful nature puts me at the center of things, and if I perceive someone else has more, bigger, better than I do, I want it for me, for after all, don’t I deserve that? This can carry into my spiritual life. I can envy those who know their Bible better, who seem more prayerful, and so on. But godly thinking rejoices at the successes of others and is never envious.

Not only that, whenever I name-drop or boast in any way about the Christian teachers I have had, I’m acting like a mere human. My sinful nature will use anything to impress others, even spirituality. Godliness is humble, more concerned about others, never trying to put itself on a pedestal, and certainly does not use other people to make itself look good.

Even though mere human thinking seems more elevated in comparison, God says it is not, that the attitude of lowering myself is godly and pleases Him. That takes a lot of mind-renewal to accept and even more to live it out.

Also, every time I quarrel, I am thinking mere human thoughts. Quarreling is about asserting myself, getting my own way, being right and making sure everyone knows about it. It can be as subtle as remarks of one-upmanship or as blatant as retorting in loud resistance and anger. It is self-defense, far from Christlike, and merely human.

Jesus, while fully human, did not think like a mere human. This showed up to the greatest degree when He went to the Cross. 1 Peter 2:21-24 says in part, “Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness.”

I try to imagine Jesus with mere human thoughts and quickly realize that had He thought like most people think, He would have argued with those who arrested Him and fought with all His might to avoid the Cross. He would have called those legions of angels to rescue Him, and by doing that, my sins would not be atoned for; I could never be righteous.

Those people who think Jesus was merely a good teacher, or a prophet, need to stand at the foot of the cross and think again. Mere men, even good men, even good teachers or prophets, do not say “Father, forgive them” about those who drive in the nails. Mere men do not think about the thieves hanging on either side. Mere men do not go quietly to their death when they know they are totally innocent.

It is little wonder that the world, filled with mere human minds, thinks that the Cross is foolishness. To human thinking, it makes no sense at all that God came to earth as a perfect man and then died for the sins of all human beings. Of course, by stumbling at that reality, the human mind becomes totally closed to the next reality—that Jesus did not stay dead. He rose from the grave and lives forever, an awesome and glorious thing that is far beyond the comprehension of mere minds.

Today I’m thinking about the power of God that raised His Son from the dead, but I’m also thinking of the power of God to change hearts and to renew minds. There are no words to express the joy in my heart for what Jesus has done, and for the wonder that He gave me His life, mind included.