THE MIND OF CHRIST

The unbelieving world accuses Christians of being a mindless group who base their beliefs on myth and superstition. From my experience as an atheist and from observing unbelievers, those who reject the Gospel have a feeling of superiority over the "fools" who believe (1 Cor. 4:10). However, the Apostle Paul wrote that Christians were to live their lives for Christ because it was reasonable to do so (Rom. 12:1). God used Isaiah to tell us that the Lord wants us to reason things out (Isa. 1:18). Faith in Christ is not a mindless exercise, but the logical result of examining the evidence found in His Word.

When the man possessed of demons saw Jesus (Mk. 5:1-20), he ran and worshiped Him (v. 6), and he recognized Jesus as "the Son of the Most High God" (v. 7). The unbelievers knew him as a man who was out of his mind, but when Jesus had cast out the demons, they found him to be in "his right mind" (v. 15). Here was a man who worshiped Jesus while demon possessed, and who worshiped Him when he was "in his right mind" (v. 18-20). By acknowledging that he was "in his right mind," they had to be convicted when they saw him submit himself to the authority of Christ (v. 18-20).

The mind of Christ, while He was on Earth, was the Spirit of God (Isa. 61:1; Lk. 4:18-21). He lived in the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit (Jn. 6:63; 8:28; 14:10; 15:15). Christians have the mind of Christ which is the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:9-16). That is why we are able to understand and believe the Word of God. The Spirit gives believers a "readiness of mind" (Acts 17:11), a humble mind (Acts 20:19; Col. 3:12), a mind of service (Rom. 7:25), a sound mind (2 Tim. 1:7), a sober mind (Titus 2:6), a renewed mind (Rom. 12:2), a fervent mind (2 Cor. 7:7), a willing mind (2 Cor. 8:12), a ready mind (2 Cor. 8:9), and a pure mind (2 Pet. 3:1).

"A mindless bunch of superstitious fools" is the last thing the world should believe about Christ's Church. We know the Word is true. We know that apart from Christ, we are doomed. We know that God loves us and He also loves those who reject Him. We know that the lost will face judgment and eternal punishment for rejecting Jesus. We know that He is coming back for His Church. We know that the Church and Jesus will return to rule His kingdom for one thousand years. We know that we will spend eternity with Him. For a bunch of mindless folks, we sure do know a lot; in fact, it is "the fool who says in his heart that there is no God" (Ps. 14:1; 53:1).

Most importantly, we know that it is God's will that Christians believe and be of one mind (Jn. 17:11, 21-23; Rom. 12:16; 15:6; 1 Cor. 1:10; 2 Cor. 13:14; Phil. 1:27; 2:2; 3:16; 4:2; 1 Pet. 3:8). That mind is the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:9-16)! True believers are definitely not mindless!