The Mind of Christ

This morning during my devotional reading, a scripture jumped out at me. I mean it really grabbed my attention. So much so that I paused my reading to look at it and ponder it some more. The scripture was 1 Corinthians 2:16, “for ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” It was that last phrase that arrested my heart, “But we have the mind of Christ.”

          I don’t know if any of you have ever had an attack in your mind – depression, fear, anxiety, confusion – but it’s not pleasant. It plays on your emotions and if allowed to continue will wreak havoc on your physical body and every other aspect of your life.  Sometimes you don’t even recognize it as an attack, but your mind is all over the place (so to speak.) You’re plagued by “what ifs” or “if only's”. The mind is a battlefield and if we don’t recognize that, we stand a good chance of losing the fight before we even get started.

          The Word of God is our weapon; it is the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17). This sword can be used both defensively (to block the blows from the enemy) or offensively (to attack the enemy). However you choose to use it, you must first take it up. You must determine, make up your mind, that you will not lay down in defeat; you will not allow the enemy to have his way. Especially not in your mind. That’s where the battle begins. Take up the sword of the Spirit; take up the Word of God.

          In the past, when I took up the sword I was generally on the defensive. The enemy would come against me with some half-truth (which is a lie) and get my mind going in all kinds of directions. When I would finally come to myself, I’d deflect his lies with God’s truth. On my best days, I’d take up the sword and go on the offensive, confessing God’s truth and rehearsing it in my mind before the enemy could attack. But that was only on my best days. Most days, I would just beat myself up wishing I could “let this mind be in me which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5) Only, this verse is speaking more specifically to humility…

          See even here, my mind is attempting to wander and debate the Word rather than focus on Christ to hear what He is saying to me. And what He is saying is, I don’t have to try to have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:16 assures me I have the mind of Christ. It’s already in me. Just like the fruit of the Spirit, it’s already in me. How? Why? Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” When I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior, there was a “Freaky Friday” kind of switch. So now you look at me and see Dutchess but it’s not really Dutchess. She was buried with Christ Jesus at baptism and He rose in her place. He now lives in the shell of me.

          I hope someone is getting this. I can barely contain myself as the whole truth floods my mind – which is the mind of Christ. It’s so simple yet so profound. I have the mind of Christ because Christ lives in me. I am not Dutchess ‘2.0’. I am not Dutchess at all if I have indeed been made new in and through Christ Jesus. I look like Dutchess. I walk like Dutchess. I even sound like Dutchess but different. The voice is mine, but my words have changed. I used to curse and make sailors blush but now I’ve got a new vocabulary. Many of the things I used to do, I don’t do anymore because I’ve got a new appetite. I am changed.

          It didn’t all take place overnight. Christ came into my heart many years ago, but the transition of power has been slow and tedious. Dutchess was a strong-willed, intelligent woman. Giving up power was not easy; even with the knowledge that losing self was the only way to win. For too long I conformed to this world, trying to serve God but keep just enough of me to say I hadn’t fully lost myself. That doesn’t work. I have to be totally transformed by the renewing of my mind. Christ’s mind is mine. But as He moved in with God’s operating system, I had to allow Him to delete my old operating system. I can finally say it’s more of Him and less of me. Still, that’s not enough. I want all of Him and none of me. And it begins when I surrender to this truth, “I have the mind of Christ.”