The mind is not something difficult to grasp. Unlike the soul which is multi-faceted and sometime hard to describe, the mind is the place where we think, ponder, reflect, and understand what is going on in and around us. Jesus went out of his way to make sure we understood the love of God must also become part of our thoughts.
Mark 12:30 (ESV)
30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
It's interesting because in the Shema, which comes from Deuteronomy 6, Jesus includes the mind though the original did not. Why?
It is either a place of truth, or a place of lies, which means that either God is the pre-eminent way in which we think, or we are being fed lies by God's enemy, Satan.
Jesus said it this way in talking to religious leaders who did not want to hear the truth:
John 8:44 (ESV)
44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
The Devil "does not stand in truth"...
"there is no truth in him..."
"When he lies, he speaks out of his own character..."
"He is a liar..."
"The father of lies."
Contrast those statements with what he had told them just before:
John 8:31-32 (ESV)
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
There is in our mind a war of words...lies or truth. I discovered that early on in my walk with Christ. During most of my teen years, I lived apart from God's truth. I fled my flesh with its desires all that was selfish, and of Satan. There was a war going on in my soul, and I was yeilding it to the enemy every day.
Romans 7:23 (ESV)
23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
That war is being fought in our mind. It is the lies of the enemy that cause us to walk away from the truth of God that truly brings freedom. In Romans 8 Paul speaks of the mind over and over again, telling us that yielding our minds to Christ is not just necessary, but liberating to the rest of our being.
Romans 8:5-6 (ESV)
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
We've heard it often - "a mind is a terrible thing to waste". I agree. God has given us a place to reflect and think so that we might find the truth of His love, grace, mercy, and peace...life and peace, Paul says.
When I accepted God's call to become a Pastor, I was drawn to the idea of the "Pastor-teacher" as Paul describes the gifts in Ephesians 4. I devoured God's word. It became so important to read, study, immerse myself in the liberating truth that came from it. I don't want you to be deceived in reading this. By no means did it mean I no longer had to deal with the lies, no they did not go away. The enemy of our souls fights us on truth and lies every minute that we are alive. But I found that the mind that God had given me was precious to Him. He wanted me to know the truth, and in teaching I found a vehicle for further learning.
I teach in order to learn for myself. I study to know the truth, and teach it, but that very word finds a place to bore itself into my own mind and heart before it goes out to others.
One day in Seminary I was listening to someone preach during a chapel service. I don't know if it was his text, or if just came up in the message; but he referenced the Old Testament book of Ezra, and he talked of Ezra the scribal leader who had come to help the Jewish nation in the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the captivity. He talked of Ezra's leadership and his courage; but what struck me the most was when he referenced Ezra the teacher - the one who fed his mind with God's truth and taught it to others:
Ezra 7:10 (ESV)
10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.
That was when I decided the course of my life - this is what I wish to become, and I've never regretted it.
Give God Your Mind
Peace
Tuesday, 19 February 2013
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