Unity of mind

(1Peter 3:8) “Finally, all of you, have unity of mind…”

Unity is strength; it is like pollen to the bee, the morning dew to the flower and the moon to the night, however, unity in Christ tops it all! It is the “Usain Bolt” of the 100 meters. Like a body of believers working together in unison bringing glory to God their Father in and through the finished work of Calvary.

What gives rope its forte? “A rope is a group of piles, yarns or strands which are twisted or braided together in order to combine them into a larger and stronger form”. Take a single strand and apply pressure to it and it will easily snap, but fortify it with the same strands and it increases in resistance, strength in numbers. It is like our natural bodies working together to help us function as we ort. Remove any body parts and we are categorized as handicapped. We (Christians) have all been given the mind of Christ; it is a gift of the Spirit and it is that truth we need to explore. Sound doctrine is the treasure. “They said to you, "In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions." It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.” (Jude 1:18-19)

I tell you that there is an onslaught coming that will be so unified, fierceness so intense and with true Christians in the cross-hairs as their targets. There will be a unified plot against the Christian on a global scale, it will happen! “Sound doctrine” (the actual teachings of the bible and not that which appeases the natural mind which will always look for opportunity to live a life of sin) will be targeted on a more ferocious scale. The breach has already happened but will soon intensify; it falls under the banner of “Tolerance” and where there is no tolerance for sin then in accordance with God’s law that is known as “Hate Speech”. However this is not the unity I look to address even though it has already surfaced. We have been warned of this time and it must happen.   

It is the unity amongst believers that the Christian must embrace, but before we can find unity we must first understand what it is we need to be unified in; it must and can only be about the “mind of Christ”. We must learn to put off anything that opposes His mind, that is a daunting task but we now have His mind (“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” - 1Corinthians 2:15 -16) so it is most certainly obtainable. Look at the lack of understanding some of the Apostles had and Jesus’ response to them; it must never be about money, this type of mind-set must be the furthest thought from our concentrations. Judas betrayed the Lord for thirty pieces of silver and then hung himself. Peter was so committed to his master that he believed that he was doing what was right in his mind but in fact was doing the work of the devil: - Observe. “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you." But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man." Note. Peter had at this stage already been spiritually awakened; “Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”” – He was not thinking with the mind of Christ but reasoning as a man! If we reason with our natural minds and we do not put on our spiritual thinking caps then we fall into the same category, we do the work of the devil! Our goal must be to understand God’s will for our lives; we must learn to forsake our wants for His will. We must make every effort to walk in the Spirit and to reason with the same. Our carnal minds will always oppose this truth. Scripture is given in order to test if our reasoning is that of the mind of Christ. If we are true to the text it will be easily understood. Keep it simple and it will be well with our souls! If there is doubt in our understanding, let us rather lean on the understanding of a child. What I mean by that is don’t over reason a simple instruction. Although we have been saved by grace, this does not give us licence to ignore the teachings of the law.

If we can learn to anchor the following instructions to our lives we will begin to learn like never before to put on the mind of Christ; “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. "And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:3-15)

Less of self and more of His character in our daily lives, He gave of Himself we too must now learn to give of ourselves and that list is endless, but it must be addressed with urgency if we are to be unified with the mind of Christ!

This instruction is simple but some of us may have lost our way and it may well be time to right our wrongs. May God help us all to find his mind, Amen! Even so come quickly Lord Jesus, Amen!

Signing off

Tyrone