Wouldn’t it be amazing to be able to think like Jesus, to see things the way he does and make decisions with his insight? What an advantage that would be for every aspect of life and ministry, to know for sure that we are doing the right thing at the right time all the time.
Guess what? The Bible tells us that as followers of Jesus we have been given ‘the mind of Christ’ (1 Corinthians 2:16). Obviously that doesn’t mean that we have become God with perfect knowledge about everything past, present and future. We remain works in progress, people with human tendencies that get in the road of our spiritual growth that need to be changed to better line up with God’s ways. Thankfully we are being transformed from what we were before Christ, to what we are becoming in Christ, seeing improvements in our character and attitudes as we head towards spiritual maturity.
So what does it mean to have the mind of Christ? Simply put, it is having our minds renewed by the Holy Spirit daily so that we think more like Jesus more of the time. It is a process of retraining our minds to consider what God desires ahead of everything else, including our own wants. It is focusing our attention on Christ and making ourselves available for God’s use however he chooses.
This transformation is not accomplished by human willpower and natural abilities. It is a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit who, when given unlimited access to our lives, produces godly character in us and equips us to live out our kingdom calling. This is what we refer to as life in the Spirit, living according to what the Holy Spirit wants us to do. To know what that is, the Holy Spirit teaches us spiritual truths in spiritual words that supersede human wisdom. In other words, we see things more like Jesus does and can therefore make judgments about things with godly confidence.
This Sunday I am going to talk about what this looks like in practice. I want to zero in on how some people seem to have such spiritual depth as a result of being able to tune in to the voice of the Holy Spirit for clarity and direction. To prepare, read through the passage in 1 Corinthians 2:6-16. You will notice right away how much the Holy Spirit is all over these verses. Think about how having the Holy Spirit in you gives you everything you need to live a godly and productive life when you learn to listen to what he has to say to you. Ask yourself how you can make that a reality in your daily living.
Blessings.
Pastor Del