“Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:16 NIV
I feel very blessed to be married to a Filipina.
One of the great blessings I receive as part of this is having an excuse to visit one of the most beautiful countries in the world every few years. And one thing that always springs to mind when people think about the Philippines are its stunning white sand and palm tree beaches.
A number of years ago, one of those beaches was visited by travellers from a small cruise ship. Their photos on social media propelled Kalanggaman Island from obscurity from being one of the most sought after places to visit in the country. So, of course, we too planned a visit.
You can imagine the excitement. Fifteen people all getting ready to visit one of the most beautiful beaches in Asia, if not the world.
Well, not all of us were excited.
‘Where are we going again?’ my mother-in-law asked with a level of cynicism, while everyone around her was busy packing their bags for the early morning departure the next day.
‘Kalanggaman, Ma.’ we told her.
‘And what’s there?’
So we explained: a beautiful white sand beach, palm trees and a long sandbar, stretching out into the sea.
Ma looked at us with a face of someone devoid of any enthusiasm, and she sighed, ‘Dagat na pud?’, which in her dialect means, ‘Beach again?’
She saw things differently than everyone else
While we were so excited to visit this stunning location, she was less enthusiastic because she had been to a beach so often that it had lost its attraction for her. The way that she saw the situation – her perspective, her perception – was different.
The Bible has a lot to say about perception and how we see the world.
For example, Jesus’ healing of a man born blind:
They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”
Mark 8:22-24 NIV
The man’s vision was not fully restored, so he only saw people as trees.
Or in the middle of Jesus’ teaching on money:
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
Matthew 6:22-23 NIV
If people see the world around them as simply a means to make money, their vision is impaired and so their body is full of darkness.
Or there’s the famous event with Elisha, when he seemingly is encircled by Arameans:
When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my Lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked. “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
2 Kings 6:15-17 NIV
How we see and perceive that situation – our perspective – is crucially important.
The process of taking in what we see and transforming it into our perspective is performed by our brain. I don’t know if you are aware, but the picture we see from our eyes is even upside down when it reaches our optic nerves and has to be corrected. It’s why, when our prescription changes for glasses or contact lenses, we initially feel some discomfort or dizziness – our brain has to react to the changes in the picture it is receiving.
The Greek word for the part of the body that carries out this process is nous – translated as ‘mind’.
I'm sure some of you reading these meditations might have gotten excited when you read their title. Maybe you thought I was going to expound on how the state or some foreign power is trying to control our minds.
I’m not. Sorry to disappoint you.
However, over the next week, as we approach the New Year, I’m going to expound from the Word of God, how we can control our minds: how we can change our worldview and how we perceive things.
And this is not some fringe activity. This is vitally important for all Christians. We live in dangerous days. How we think affects what we say and what we do. Get this wrong, and our witness will be affected, which will, in turn, affect how other people perceive God and Christianity.
So before we embark on it, I want to encourage you with a simple truth that undergirds everything I will teach: we can change our thoughts.
We can control our minds.
Let’s think about this for a second. Here we have Paul, who once was an arch-persecutor of the church, whose intention was to put Christians on trial and murder them (Acts 8:1-2). He is writing to the Corinthians, a Greek Church with a pagan history. From their background, they would have had little respect for Christians or Christ.
And he tells them that they have the mind of Christ.
He does so directly after quoting from Isaiah 40, which says:
Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord, or instruct the Lord as his counselor? Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge, or showed him the path of understanding?
Isaiah 40:13-14 NIV
And where it later says:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV
ttps://bible.com/bible/111/isa.55.8-9.NIV
So how is this remotely possible?
The answer lies in 1 Corinthians 2:11-12 and 15: the Holy Spirit.
Allowing the Holy Spirit – who Jesus promised would guide us into all truth (John 16:13) to work in our minds and responding to His promptings will give us Christ’s perspective, His worldview, His mind.
And yes, this will not always be perfect, as Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 13:
For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
1 Corinthians 13:12 NIV
However, if we humbly seek to improve our mind and to get a clearer perspective, Paul tells is that it’s possible to improve.
But what does that look like?
What changes do we need to make?
.
Stick with me through the next six days and find out.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I know that my thoughts are not Your thoughts. I know my perspective on things is often incomplete. Help me to see things better. Send your Holy Spirit and teach me how to see things as You see them. I am willing to change. Amen
Questions
1. Why is our perspective, our worldview, our mind so important? What effect can it have on us and other people?
2. Is it possible to change it? How? What evidence is there in the Bible that change is possible?
3. What parts of your mind would you like to change? Will you ask God to help you change them?
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