But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and
do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of
His heart.
—1 Corinthians 2:16B
I reached the curb in front of the airport, where
my friend would pick me up. I was calm and
relaxed and thought of the great conversation
we would have. To my surprise, she wasn’t there
yet. That was odd because she’s the kind of
person who is never late for anything. I remained
calm and peaceful. I spotted what I thought was
her car and took a step forward, but the car
went past me, and there was a stranger in it.
Not more than three minutes had passed, but I
realized I was anxious and worried. What had
happened to her? Had she been in an accident?
Did she forget me? From calmness to anxiety in
less than three minutes, and nothing had
changed—nothing except my mind. Worried
thoughts struggled inside me.
I pulled out my cell phone and started to dial,
when I heard a car honking, as she pulled up to
the curb. My mind shifted once again to
calmness, even joyfulness. How quickly my
emotions had shifted in that short period of time.
My mind had quickly changed when my
circumstances did. Sometimes I find it easy to
hear God speak...and to believe without any
difficulty. Yet at other times, worry and anxiety
push their way into my mind. The Bible says we
are to walk by faith and not by sight, but that
day at the airport, I was definitely being led by
what I saw. When we worry, we are not walking
in faith and trusting God.
For a long period of my life, I had a critical,
suspicious, and judgmental mind. That may seem
normal for many nonbelievers, but I was a
Christian. I was going along with the same
thinking and mindset that I had known for years.
It was normal to me—it was just the way I was.
For years, I had no awareness that my wrong
thinking was causing any problems.
Because no one had taught me, I didn’t know I
could do anything to change my thought life. It
simply had not occurred to me. No one had
taught me about the proper condition for the
believer’s mind. God offers us a new way to
think and a new way to live.
God has called us to renew our minds (see
Romans 12:2). For most of us, it is an ongoing
process. We don’t control our thinking all at one
time.
One day I read 1 Corinthians 2:16, where Paul
says we have the mind of Christ. What could he
have meant? I pondered that verse for days. I
concluded that for us to have the mind of Christ
doesn’t mean we’re sinless or perfect. It does
mean we begin to think the way Christ thinks. If
we have His mind, we think on those things that
are good and honorable and loving.
I confessed to God how many times my mind
had focused on the ugly, the mean, and the
harsh.
In 1 Corinthians 2:14, Paul wrote, But the natural,
non-¬spiritual man does not accept or welcome or
admit into his heart the gifts and teachings and
revelations of the Spirit of God, for they are folly
(meaningless nonsense) to him…because they are
spiritually discerned and estimated and
appreciated…. Yes, I thought, that is exactly how it
works. The natural mind—even that of the
Christians whose minds are tampered with by
Satan—doesn’t grasp what God is doing. Those
things seem foolish.
We must remind ourselves that we have Christ’s
mind—we have the ability to think loving and
caring thoughts. We can defeat Satan’s attacks.
Holy God, I want to live with the mind of Christ. I
ask You to enable me to think positive, loving,
caring thoughts about myself and about others.
Help me to see and think on the good things in life
and not the bad. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Source :Joyce Meyer Ministries
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