Having The Mind of Christ 

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Here’s a thought: Your thoughts determine the trajectory of your life. 

Really? Is that so? 

Think about it: Every action taken was first determined by a thought to initiate that response. Even subconscious actions had to be conditioned from a responsive thought at one point. Your thinking process either allows or hinders what you should or should not do. And guess what? You have a lot of thoughts. The average person has 6,200 thoughts per day.¹ If you feel like you have thousands of thoughts racing through your mind all at once each day, then you’d be correct! 

My purpose for this post is more than to inform you of how many thoughts you have. My main concern is what kind of thoughts you have.

• If your thoughts are the driving force for what action you take, are those thoughts informed by Christ?
• If your thinking leads you not to do what you are supposed to do, was that thought led by the Holy Spirit?
• If you believe you are the worst human on the planet, was that inspired by God? 

It’s easy to focus on an action, especially if it is wrong, and attempt a ‘fix’ through behavioral modification. Yet, that would not be the root of the callous behavior, careless words, or sinful response. The Holy Spirit wants to take you deeper and uproot negative thinking patterns, misunderstandings, and thoughts of unbelief. If you focus only on following the rules and observing ‘good behavior’, it’s approach is limited in scope; It would be trimming the leaves on a tree. After a short time, the leaves will grow back – a person will fall into sin once again. It’s not until the root of the matter – the unholy and inaccurate thoughts of who you are in Christ – are dug up out of the ground, never to take root again. 

Here is another thought that will help you have the correct thinking: you have the mind of Christ. 

It’s true! Paul sheds light on this topic in response to us having the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 2:16 – “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.” In other words, we can understand the ways and thoughts of the Lord because of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God, which have been revealed to us (v. 10). What does having the mind of Christ mean then? It means everything! 

• The perception of how God sees you are influenced by your thoughts. You have an identity in Christ – a son or daughter of the King (Romans 8:17), being more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37), a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). You can respond accordingly to your identity in Christ since you have the mind of Christ. 

• The realization of what God has for you are aligned by your thoughts. He has given you spiritual gifts, a unique personality, and God-given dreams prepared in advance for you to participate in the Kingdom of God (Ephesians 2:10). You can walk in the calling of what you know as part of God’s will even if you don’t have the complete picture yet.

For us to utilize the mind of Christ, we need to spend time with Christ. We cannot know His thoughts towards us unless we open up the Scriptures. We cannot know His plans for us unless we spend time in uninterrupted and unhurried prayer. 

Additionally, aligning our thoughts to accessing the mind of Christ is an ongoing process. I wish we could think the right thoughts for a moment and BOOM! – Have instant Christ-centered thoughts. Unfortunately, it takes time and effort to undo a thinking patterns we know the Lord wouldn’t agree on. Think about how many times it took to condition ourselves to negative self talk, unfruitful attitudes, and an unhealthy image of ourselves? Probably too many times to count! We have to undo the damage that has been done and replace it with the reality that we have the mind of Christ.

Romans 12:2 states this perfectly on how to do this: 

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” 

Our wrong thinking has conformed us to what people think of us, our failures, and our glaring flaws. It’s easier to focus on how we have not measured up by comparison to others rather than measuring God’s thoughts over us. In a world of pretty poses and perfect posts, our attention has to be redirected to the Word, so we are no longer conformed to the pattern of this world.    

Instead, you can witness something incredible in the process: the transformation the Holy Spirit brings into your thought life. You actively break the conformity of what the world says by redirecting your thinking to what the Bible says. As you develop a habit of being still with Scripture, you are renewing your mind. Old habits and inaccurate thoughts of who you are begin to disappear. At the same time, new revelation occurs, revealing the heart of God for you and what He thinks about you. Transformation takes place – a process the Holy Spirit works in you to have God-centered thoughts about yourself, your future, and much, much more. 

It’s exciting to realize you have the mind of Christ – all you have to do is access Christ! As mentioned above, take time this week to seek the Lord in the Scriptures and in prayer regarding your thought life. Any thoughts you are wrestling with, give them to the Lord and ask Him for His thoughts about it instead. Is there a disconnect between your thoughts and His? Even if it’s hard to believe the truth about how God sees you (because we can be hard on ourselves), take His word over yours and align your thoughts accordingly. Your thoughts determine the course of action you take, and I have a strong feeling the Lord wants you to finish well. It all starts with the right thinking, and thankfully, you have the mind of Christ. 

1 https://www.news18.com/news/buzz/humans-have-around-6200-thoughts-in-a-single-day-shows-new-study-2723281.html