"The Mind Of Christ" Will Guide You
By Wesley L. Duewel
"We have the mind of Christ," said the apostle Paul (1 Cor. 2:16). What does Paul mean? He means you can understand scriptural truth as Christ did; you can share the wisdom of Christ. This wisdom, says Paul, has been planned by God for you even "before time began" (1 Cor. 2:7). It is vastly different from the thinking of the world. You become distinguished by having more Christlike thinking and a more Christlike lifestyle than unsaved persons.
Because the Holy Spirit enables you to view life, the world, relationships, and goals from Christ’s perspective, you have a refreshingly different set of principles by which to make decisions. Instead of an earthly mind-set you have a spiritual mind-set aided by the Holy Spirit. Thus Paul refers to the "mind of the Spirit" (Rom. 8:27) – that is, the "mind of Christ."
"Your attitude," says Paul, "should be the same as that of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:5). The hymn writer expresses it:
May the mind of Christ my Savior
Live in me from day to day,
By His love and power controlling
All I do and say.
– Katie Barclay Wilkinson
The Holy Spirit so impresses on you the content of Scripture and the outlook of God that it is easy for Him to remind you to conform your thinking and living to Christ’s perspective. You are enabled to be spiritually sensitive to what is Christlike.
This Christlike mind and attitude, Scripture based and Scripture guided, trains you "to distinguish good from evil" (Heb. 5:14), what pleases the Lord from what does not. It is an aspect of spiritual maturity to which Paul challenges us: "All of us who are mature should take such a view of things" (Phil. 3:15).
The world and its people have their own perspectives on life, their own patterns of priorities, attitudes, and lifestyles. Paul writes, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will" (Rom. 12:2). This is a beautiful description of how the mind of Christ guides you. The renewing of your mind comes by receiving more and more of the mind of Christ. This helps you test and choose as a way of life the things that please God. These are always what is "good," Paul says; they are the best for you.
Paul does not want you to live and act "like mere men" of the world (1 Cor. 3:3). That would make you "worldly" he says. Our age, our culture, our sin-dominated civilization seek to give us a worldly set of standards, desires, priorities, and attitudes. We are always in danger of the culture’s penetrating and polluting our minds; almost before we know it, we can be pressed into its mold.
You need the constant, renewing ministry of the Spirit to remind you of the Christlike worldview, the Christlike counterculture. One day Christ will return and rule, and earth’s culture will become a spiritual culture. Today Satan seeks to rob earth of the benefits of a culture that is good, pleasing, and perfect. So the Spirit today gives you the mind of Christ, the heaven-oriented mind, the eternity-oriented mind. To worldly minded people your basis of choice seems strange. But when they think seriously they must recognize that your Spirit-guided lifestyle is beautiful and right.
As a Spirit-filled believer you face the same set of circumstances and basic facts as others, but you are aided by a supernatural resource not available to the unsaved person. The Spirit has been forming in you the same attitudes that Christ has. You already have, to some degree, the mind of Christ and are developing ever more fully Christ’s own perspective. You have a purer ethical frame of reference. Your value system has an eternal dimension. You have a resident, omniscient Counselor, the indwelling Holy Spirit. God’s spiritual principles are written in your mind, on your heart.
"I will put My laws in their minds and write them on their hearts" (Heb. 8:10, quoted from Jer. 31:33-34).
"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws" (Ezek. 36:26-27).
This new inner heart attitude and motivation distinguishes you from the unsaved. You have "the mind of Christ." You have a new sensitivity to God.
Another biblical way to express this is that you as a Spirit-filled believer are now living "according to the Spirit" (Rom. 8:4). To live according to the Spirit is to be cleansed by the Spirit, guided by the Spirit, and empowered by the Spirit. Paul explains, "Those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires" (Rom. 8:5). He adds that this results in your sharing spiritual life and peace.
Therefore, to have the mind of Christ is to have Spirit-assisted understanding and wisdom that is in harmony with Christ. It is to have the perspective of Christ, to share the counsel of the Spirit, and to be motivated in accordance with the leading of the Spirit.
You have, says Paul, "put off your old self" (Eph. 4:22), which was motivated and hindered by sin’s deceiving desires. You have been "made new in the attitude of your minds" (v. 23) and thus have "put on the new self" (v. 24). This new attitude of mind constantly influences your choices and decisions, even though you are often unaware of it.
As a Spirit-filled believer you have not only the truth of the Bible and the inner voice of the Spirit as primary resources for guidance, but also a Christlike perspective, an "according to the Spirit" frame of reference, and a new self. This truth has implications of all your daily living. You now have the mind of Christ.
– Quoted from Let God Guide You Daily by Wesley L. Duewel. Copyright © 1988. Used by permission of the Duewel Literature Trust, Inc., Greenwood, Indiana. Dr. Duewel’s books may be purchased by calling (317) 881-6751 Ext. 361.