But, as it is written,“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. (1Corinthians 2:9-13)
It is self-evident that we humans live in two realms…the physical world and the spiritual world. Our spirits are what make each one of us unique creations of God. This plays out in the physical as we all have totally unique fingerprints, eye retinas, and DNA yet all of this originates in our unique spirits that the Bible tells us will live for eternity…forever. This fact is for the believer and unbeliever alike.
Unfortunately, because sin entered the world, it blocked us from really knowing our spirits or the spirit of our Creator. Sin brought death and dying to our mortal bodies. The Bible describes it as our minds being darkened and unfit for truthful, appropriate thinking…
“Moreover, just as they did not see fit to hold on to knowledge of God, God gave them up to an unfit mind, so that they would behave inappropriately. They were filled with all kinds of injustice, wickedness, greed and evil; they were full of envy, murder, enmity, deceit and cunning. They became gossips, slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, self-important, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, unwise, unfaithful, unfeeling, uncaring. They know that God has rightly decreed that people who do things like that deserve death. But not only do they do them; they give their approval to people who practice them.” (Romans 1:28-31)
In the mind of modern man today, there is generally no regard given to God, spirit, or eternity. A vast majority of us live to ourselves and our own understanding. We live by our feelings, our limited educations, and our own experiences. We wander day to day in lives of “quiet desperation”, seeking pleasure and escaping pain if at all possible. We are all about what we eat, drink, social relationships, and status amongst ourselves. In general, there is little care or concern about what God thinks of us or our actions.
Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.”
In other words, true wisdom and knowledge come from the Lord of all creation…not from our own reasoning. Unfortunately, the carnal mind in its natural state cannot understand the wisdom and knowledge that comes from God. It isn’t until we are reborn spiritually through faith in Christ that our minds are renewed. Old things have passed away and all has become new. We are new creatures spiritually.
Romans 12:2 instructs Christians, “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Unfortunately, the spirit of the world has infiltrated the church more than the church has infiltrated the world. Christians have adapted to modern culture more than the culture being challenged by Christians. There is less and less difference seen between how Christians think and act to how the world thinks and acts. This current COVID epidemic has underlined that reality for me more than any other event in my lifetime. The battle for truth in science and faith has so far been hugely won by the world’s faulty approach to sickness and the fear of death. I see this fear in the eyes and actions of a vast majority of people every day, believer and unbeliever alike. Many of us believe the words of man’s institutions and their minions over the Word of God. This begins and ends with the lack of spiritual understanding and truth. We no longer count on God’s protection and wisdom, replacing it instead with minute-by-minute updates on whether vaxes, masks, or social distancing can somehow save our lives. We are told not to trust the natural immunity that God instilled in our physical world. These fears of death and suffering are not spiritual and have put God’s people in subjugation to worldly authorities who have themselves thrown out all science when dealing with such viruses. That is just an illustration and not the subject of this blog.
The spiritual mind comes from a mind staid on Jesus and His Word. The spiritual mind overrides our decades of false teachings and understandings. The spiritual mind is not swayed by fear or anxiety. The spiritual mind overcomes all…even our physical suffering or limitations. The spiritual mind sees things from a whole other dimension. Only eternal things carry any great significance in such a mindset.
1 Corinthians 1:25 states, “For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” Men today perceive following God and the scriptures as foolishness and weak. To be different from the world is to be “strange and peculiar”. If you question “science” or the authority of man’s institutions, you are seen as a pariah or conspiracy theorist. When we truly understand scripture in more context, we realize just how different is the mind of Christ versus the mindset of mankind. When all is God’s, even the very breath we take, we then realize how irrational are our ideas, fears, and anxieties that contradict what He has told us.
Finally, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)
When we are reborn of His Spirit, we begin to be more like Jesus. That doesn’t mean we are proud or in a position of judgment over other people. More like, we are to focus on ourselves, coming into obedience to God, and submitting to him and others. Submitting doesn’t mean not speaking the “truth in love” to those who need it, but it is never about us versus “them”. Submitting to God sometimes means speaking truth to power, or to those closest to us. Hopefully, we always do this in the spirit of humility and love. While I believe God is often angry and as His children we can feel that same emotion, we must somehow focus on and realize His MERCY. While we were YET sinners, Christ died for us. Sacrifice comes before salvation. God’s grace is a free gift on one hand, but on the other hand, He expects us to love and obey Him in return…which we can only successfully do by being filled with His Spirit.
“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 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. (1 Corinthians 2:14-16)
We do not think like the world. We do not accept the judgment of the world. The spiritual mind is always humble. The spiritual mind is always forgiving. The spiritual mind leads to spiritual actions and releasing the power of God in our lives. It’s not about “us”.
I hope you will experience the power of the Holy Spirit in your life today and have the mind of Christ in all your affairs. When you do, you will not worry, doubt, or carry a heavy burden because you know where His power is taking you…for all eternity.