Renewing the Mind

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.”(2 Corinthians 10:5-6)

Good morning, my friends. I trust all of you had a great weekend celebrating the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. I hope you got to spend some time with family and loved ones and got to make some special memories this past weekend. I purposely stayed off here over the weekend in order that others could boldly and passionately announce the good news of Christ’s resurrection while you and I stood down in honor and respect.

Today I come to you with a passage with which I struggle – and I trust some others do, too: mind games and misunderstandings. As humans, we were created with the gift of imagination – the ability to daydream and create in our minds things that don’t exist outwardly. We have the ability to project ourselves into a movie, for example, and see ourselves as the hero (or the villan). We have the ability to look at a house we are considering buying and projecting where all the furniture will go, where the patio furniture will set, and see ourselves hosting get-togethers for our friends. As we read books our minds are engaged as pictures flood our heads of the images and settings expounded in great detail. That is why when we read our Bibles we should take time and allow ourselves to absorb the whole scene as we read of the exploits of biblical figures. We are afloat with Noah and his family aboard the Ark, we are watching from the sidelines as one of David’s mighty men fights with a lion deep inside a snow-filled pit, we sit in the grass on the hillside as Jesus and the disciples feed us from the five loaves and two fishes. On and on our imaginations carry us until we truly feel as if we are right there!

Sadly, Satan weaponizes that same imagination against us as he recalls all of our mistakes, our blatant disobediences, our failures, the times we were hurt (emotionally or physically) by others, and our threatened mortality without God. He tries to convince us we have gone too far, that Jesus can’t love us because of our scars and failures. Sometimes (actually far too often) Satan doesn’t even have to do or say anything: we do it to ourselves. We can’t forgive ourselves for something we have said or done in the past; therefore, we excuse ourselves from the mercy and grace of God for us. Our minds have been altered to the point that we have a hard time thinking wholesome thoughts. Our line of reasoning has been conditioned to expect the worst from ourselves and others to the point that we become offensive (on the attack) before we ever encounter anyone. We won’t let down our guard lest we get hurt again. I understand that.

Paul wrote to the church at Corinth – and to us – that we are to take control of our minds, to take captive every thought, and bring it into obedience to the knowledge of Christ. We are to have our imaginations consecrated, cleansed, and healed if we are ever to be of any use to God and our fellow man. Perhaps that is why Jesus referred to the two greatest commandments the way He did. If that same lawyer who tried to tempt Jesus with that question would approach me, I’m sure I would stop and run through the list of the Ten Commandments, maybe go through the Code of Jewish Law (yes, I have a copy of that), then try to pick out one that sounds the most damning. Jesus, however, cut straight to the chase with His answer. First, Jesus said, we are to love the Lord our God with all of our being – heart, soul, and spirit. Secondly (implied), we are to love ourselves. For only then can we love others (AS we love ourselves). He doesn’t specifically say we should love ourselves; however, as I said that is implied in His comment to love others as we love ourselves.

This is a grand struggle for many because of the things we have gone through in life. We have had others hurt us in many ways – let us down, viciously attacked us, spoke words over us, etc. And, let us not forget, we have also hurt others. Sometimes those actions cause us more guilt and shame than if they had hurt us! Over the course of my ministry I have encountered (and continue to encounter) MANY Christians who struggle with forgiving themselves. And yet, as Christ so clearly told us, if we can’t forgive ourselves we are not truly able to forgive others. If we can’t allow grace to cover us, we won’t allow grace to cover others. If we can’t love ourselves, we can’t truly love others the way Christ commands us to. This puts us up against the wall. How do we move forward and gain our freedom and healing?

Again we turn to Paul. In Romans 12:2 he wrote that we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds in order to prove what is the good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. In Philippians 2:5 he began a discourse saying that we need to have in us the mind of Christ. A mind of obedience to God that goes against everything our flesh would demand. We just went through the crucifixion of Christ and stood alongside as He prayed, “Father, if it be Thy will, let this cup pass from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Thine be done.” We (hopefully) will never face the agonizing suffering and death Jesus endured. Yet our flesh can be very convincing as it argues that a loving God would never ask you to … (fill in the blank). Yet, if God is asking this of you it is very much because He loves you and wants the best for you. It may take hours of prayer and fasting on your face before God to overcome the temptation to disobey, yet it will be worth it on the backside of this sacrifice. Remember, for the joy set before Him Jesus endured death on the cross. And that joy involved you and me – purchasing our salvation and return to God. Keep that in mind today as you go about your business. What would God ask of you? Be willing to yield to Him today.

Be blessed.