Put on the Mind of Christ!

(1Corinthians 2:16) “...But we have the mind of Christ.”

Obviously the greatest example of all men in every area of lives for us to follow is the Lord Jesus; we will unquestionably learn the most from Him. However we have also been given other examples to follow and we must learn from them where and when needed. Job is one we must often refer too, as He can teach us many things. He was also a sinner working out His salvation through His life trying to understand the call that God had placed on his life. We must look at our lives and do the same, but the Word is what must guide us and not our emotions. Sure they will have their part to play, but they must never overrule the precision of God’s Word, the Bible! The hardships we all have to endure, I doubt will never compare with what he had to endure.

The Word is very clear on many things; some verses are left open ended but as for Romans 8:28 Paul makes a statement, it is not opened ended at all; “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Note: This verse addresses two qualifying criteria’s; firstly we must love God and secondly it must be about His purpose and not our own self-willed agenda’s. Our lives must be God-centred and not man-centred!

I was in two minds whether to share yesterday eventful morning with you but as it illustrates this point well, I have decided to do exactly that. I however am not even daring to compare this event to any one of the hardships that Job faced here while on earth. But his example helps us glean some vital principles that we must also apply to our lives.

Yesterday I was running behind a little on time, I had just finished posting my morning blog and as it was Wednesday I was off to play golf. I needed to get to Glen Dower Golf Course but what would normally take 30 minutes I now needed to do in less time. I wasn’t far off my calculations but I was still going to need to make up 5 or so minutes. I packed the Land Cruiser (4x4) with my golf clubs and a change of kit, got into my car and drove up the driveway, stopped the car, got out opened the gate, then I got back into the car drove out the yard and stop the vehicle to close the gate. I had done this routine at least 100 times,maybe more. I pushed the gear-lever into park or so I thought, I then got out the car with the door open and made my way still hurrying to close and lock the gate. On my way to the gate I heard a click as the gearlever clicked from park into reverse, the car began to move back through the gate. It happened all very quickly. Instinctively, I tried to open the driver’s door even wider so I could jump in and stop the Cruiser before any damage was done. Time was not on my side as the vehicle was now moving downhill it all happened in a flash. When I realised that I was not able to get into the car I needed now to elude the driver’s door and the gate pillar, or else I would find myself wedged between the two. I got out the way in the nick of time but as the door was still ajar it was ripped from its hinges. As I had now move backwards I tried to do the same with the passenger’s door but also to no avail, the car was moving to hastily, so without closing the rear door I now jumped into the driver’s seat as it had now cleared of the gate post. I still did not make it in time as I heard a crunch as the concrete precast wall gave way as my Prado annihilated the wall as if it was papier-mâché. Eventually I managed with the help of the wall and the cars brakes to bring it to a halt. The damage was devastating, both doors had now been ripped from their hinges, thankfully there were no bodily injuries but the smash up to the wall and the vehicle was a lot worse than anticipated.

My first thought was why Lord? What have I now done wrong, you see my life has been filled with so many bad choices and I have so many scars in my body to remind me of my folly through life, that I instinctively do a post-mortem on myself. I still think it is good to examine our lives on a daily basis. “As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man.” (Proverbs 27:19)

It would not be to our advantage to go through life haphazardly and never giving thought to our actions as the Word teaches us very clearly that God chastens those whom He loves; “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?” (Hebrews 12:6-7)

And we also know although we are now sons of God we constantly battle against the thought of our hearts; “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person." (Mark 7:21-23)

Yet having said that we are also taught that we now have the mind of Christ so we have been given the wherewithal to reason with sound reasoning: "For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.” (1Corinthians 2:16)

It is imperative that we begin to reason with His mind in our daily walks with us always seeking out God’s will for our lives, we must in our journey here on earth learn to become God-centred and leave all our man-centeredness behind. That is the call for every child of God! It is a process and it will take a lifetime, but be that as it may that is the instruction for every child of God. The very same truth is clearly seen when we break bread (have communion), we are taught to examine ourselves so that we will not be judged with the world. If we do not then we may suffer His judgment and for this reason we may find ourselves weak and sickly and some may even sleep (die, not spiritually but our fleshly bodies will cease to exist) because this is not implemented in our lives. “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.” (1Corinthians 11:28-31)

Now back to Job, he was a man that feared God and shunned evil and yet He faced hardship. Why? The answer is clear, so that God’s name would be exalted especially through His apparent misfortune. The Apostle Peter understood this very clearly, this is what he has to say on the subject: “For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” (1Peter 3:17-18)

Suffering in all forms of our lives teaches us to rely on the promises and the hope of God through Jesus Christ our Lord; it prepares us to become more dependent upon Him than upon ourselves. That is why a verse like {(Romans 8:28) “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose”} must be believed with all our hearts and never doubt as God is preparing us for a great honour where one day we will be with Him and receive a body like His dear Son that is incorruptible and will endure eternity without any more tears or pain, which is our hope! We must embrace it with all we have! Job’s motto must become our motto: “And he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." (Job 1:21)

We must learn to examine our lives with the mind of Christ and if we need to repent because God in his love is humbling us, then let us do exactly that. If our hearts do not condemn us when we suffer hardships then we will have peace with God. Why, in the lives of a believer should we sorrow after a worldly sort, it is not welcome in our lives, because if we entertain those types of thoughts we know that they will lead to death. We have life and we have it in abundance, let us put on the mind of Christ and in so doing we know that we shall live!

Signing off

Tyrone