The Mind of Christ

A young pastor announced his resignation. The congregation was shocked and speculated why he did this. Not wanting to guess along with the rest of them, I went to see him. He tried to explain but could not. Finally, I said to him, “You are doing this because you know this is what God wants you to do?” He hit the desk with his fist and said, “Yes, that’s it.”

Today’s devotional is about this witness of the Spirit, this “sacred inner thing which cannot be explained.” Words from the Holy Spirit are personal, and the heart knows without knowing how it knows. Further, unless He gives the same counsel to another person, it cannot be shared. As Tozer says, it will make no sense to a person who is without the Spirit. The Bible explains this way:

“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. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.” (1 Corinthians 2:11–13)

I can understand the will of God for my life by paying attention to the Spirit of God. Of course, many things try to crowd out His voice: busyness, noise, worries, other people and all the pressures of life. To hear Him requires slowing down, turning off distractions, and paying attention. It also requires a yielded heart. He will not speak if I am not set to listen and obey.

The same passage goes on to say this;

“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)

Just as other Christians cannot hear what God says to me (unless He says the same thing to them), those without Christ cannot know or accept this inner phenomenon. Some might say I am crazy, deranged, odd. Some might write me off as a weird person. Yet this is of no consequence. Because of the Holy Spirit, I can evaluate everything I hear by listening to God’s evaluation! To me, this is a most valuable gift, yet I must remember that He gives me only what He wants me to know. I cannot pull His strings and find out the mysteries of life or what other people think. In this way, I can depend on Him to give me what I need.

Not only that, for all this and to be able to understand Him, God gave me the mind of Christ, not so much that I can know stuff, but that I can know Him and think like He thinks — with love and compassion.

^^^^^^^^

Jesus, You bless me beyond belief. I dare say if I told some people that I have the mind of Christ they would send the people with those white jackets that have no sleeves. This gift is not to make me weird, strange, or smarter than others. Instead, it is for me the spiritual ability to pray in Your will and to treat others as You would treat them. To use this gift rightly, You say:

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)