Experiencing a Renewed Mind

“For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16)

Every believer has a doctor’s appointment for two very radical surgeries. The first is open heart, performed by the Great Physician who removes the heart of stone and replaces it with a heart after God. In natural medicine that constitutes sawing the sternum bone in two and placing a beating heart in the cardiologist’s hand, a radical surgery indeed. The second has never been accomplished or even attempted in the natural, a head transplant, though the idea has made for some very macabre science fiction plots. This surgery is performed by the believer on himself. He holds the scalpel and mirror beneath the bright light of the Holy Spirit and grits his teeth through the cutting process. John the Baptist lost his head; Christ took over the forerunner’s territory and became the Head of the Church. We too must turn headship over to Him.

Jesus died on a hill called Golgotha, which is interpreted as, “The place of a skull” (Mark 1:22). The hill was skull-shaped and littered with the skulls of those executed there, yet it has a deeper meaning. The work of the cross and the battle for our destiny was waged and won at Golgotha. Likewise, our victory is won between our two ears, in the place called the skull.

Paul addressed the battle between the old man and the new, “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Romans 8:6). A new mind, “The mind of Christ”, must be received then old faculties, perceptions and logic must be renewed in the image of that new mind or new way of thinking. “Who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him?” The quick answer has always been that no man can know or understand Omniscience and certainly not instruct Him for, as Isaiah says, “My thoughts are higher than your thoughts, and my ways higher than your ways, says the Lord”. I would agree to accept that Paul used the conjunction “but”, which reverses the conversation – “But we have the mind of Christ”. In other words, yes, man can carry on a conversation with God, man can think as God thinks because we have been given the mind of Christ. Everything God thinks is in His “logos”, His logic or His “word”. We have the word, therefore, we have the mind of Christ. The problem is in maintaining that attitude and mindset by walking in the Word. Let’s note a few pertinent concepts:

First, we need a complete brain “washing”. 

We’ve had a thorough blood-washing, next comes the brain-washing. The Bible speaks of a carnal mind, reprobate mind, doubtful mind, etc. When the madman from Gadara was delivered from the legion of demons he was found “clothed, at the feet of Jesus and in his right mind”. To go in sin is to go insane. Such was the prodigal son’s case. After some quiet reflection “he came to himself” (Luke 15:17). In the new birth we are given “the spirit of…a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). Those who claim that believers have lost their minds are in a way correct because we’ve forfeited our way of thinking for His. 

Second, there are always two minds fighting for supremacy so we have to give one or the other full control.

It is the mind of Christ versus the mind of the flesh. Ishmael and Isaac can’t coexist under the same roof – one has to go. There are no matching thrones in the human heart. We have to kick out the bondwoman and her son. We can’t continue to waffle back and forth between the two mind-sets. Faith is decisive. It is impossible to think wrong and behave right. One poetic line suggests, “Two men looked through prison bars, one saw mud, one saw stars”. The direction in which we tip our chins is a matter of free choice. “As he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).

We are first spirits, then souls, then bodies (1 Thessalonians 5:23). The renewed spirit-personality must control the behavior of the other two. Spirit is sovereign, soul is servant and body is slave. Mind renewal reprioritizes, deciding who is going to call the shots. When David said, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me”, it was the spirit, the sovereign, speaking to the soul, the servant, telling the body, the slave, “all that is within me”, that it is time to bless the Lord. The mind of Christ never follows, it sets the agenda for the course of life. “This is the day the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it”. Notice the “will” decides.

Third, we must declare war on stinking thinking.

The obvious text is 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 which speaks of demolishing strongholds by casting down imaginations or human reasonings and bringing every thought into the obedience of Christ. We can’t prevent thoughts from intruding but we can, as Wesley taught, keep the birds from making nests in our hair. Spiritual strongholds or fortifications are built thought by thought. It starts with a thought which becomes a consideration which becomes an attitude which by default leads to an action which repeated becomes a habit which repeated becomes a stronghold. Such strongholds are not broken by gentle discipline, all-out war must be declared.

Fourth, we must pack our minds so full of truth that no room is left for error. 

“Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against You” (Psalm 119:11). Get into the Book till the Book gets into you! We do that by meditating, memorizing, minding, musing in and mastering the word. But we’ve not mastered the word until we are mastered by the word. It’s the GIGO computer principle, garbage in, garbage out, only in our case the acrostic reads, good in, good out. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). Notice, out of the “abundance” of the heart. What is packed in automatically becomes what gushes forth.

Fifth, we must guard the gates of the mind.

Each believer must serve as his own TSA, his own spiritual customs agent. Deb and I seemed to face additional scrutiny in this year’s India trip. Every few feet another agent demanded to see both passport and boarding pass. Nothing is permitted on board that has not been scanned and screened. Yet, we too often allow packages into our mindsthat are later detonated, bringing destruction to our lives. Know when to click off the cellphone. Know when to shut off the TV. Or even a mistaken preacher. You have personal priesthood. In Bible days priests stood at every Temple gate to make sure the uncircumcised or the Gentile did not trespass the sanctuary. Or as Paul said, “Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of a good report, think on these things” (Philippians 4:8). To be effective, be selective.

Sixth, we must take control of our self-talk. 

The mouth conditions the mind. “Let the weak say, I am strong” (Joel 3:10). “That we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Hebrews 13:6). Everyone talks to themselves and that dialogue conditions attitude. I talk to myself because I like to talk to intelligent people and like to hear intelligent people talk and you ought to do the same! We “have” the mind of Christ! Be “filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs…” (Ephesians 5:18,19) 

Jesus commanded, “Take no thought, saying…” (Matthew 6:31) The problem isn’t so much the anxiety or worries as it is the saying of it. If you don’t want it, don’t say it! Don’t give the devil any ammunition. Talk soon converts into walk just as the woman with the issue of blood who “kept saying to herself, If I only touch His garment, I shall be restored to health” (Matthew 9:21 AMP). Faith entered through her ears dropped down into her heart popped out of her mouth then went down to her feet. Right or wrong action always follows the path of one’s confession. She “kept saying” and soon her hand had hold of the hem.

Finally, to experience mind renewal or this spiritual “mind transplant” we must maintain our focus.

We mentioned stinking thinking but Peter faced “sinking thinking”. One turn of the gaze from Christ to the winds, the “anemos” in Greek, root for our word “animation”, and Peter began to sink. We are safe until we get sidetracked by the animation, the cartoons, the figment or illusion. A man always sinks in his mind before he sinks in his circumstance. Peter was in over his head long before the water was over his ankles. You wonder why things are falling apart in your life? It is because you have turned your head. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways (James 1:8). That is “diapsuchos”, two psyches or two heads on one set of shoulders. Christ doesn’t ride a bicycle built for two. He is Lord of all. So to have success we must maintain focus on Him like a heat-seeking missile locked in on its target. “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed [“fixed” NLT] on You: because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3).

There, I’ve outlined the doctor’s procedure, but as mentioned, now you have to hold the mirror and make the first incision.