The mind of Christ is nothing less than the will of God revealed to His family. Once we know what the Father's will for His children is, it's not so difficult to walk in what Jesus has done for us. We've mostly had a hard time because we have learned so many things throughout the years that it's difficult to know what to do.
We must allow the Holy Spirit to be our teacher in order to know the mind of Christ. We've heard and learned so many things over the years that it's now difficult to hear the Holy Spirit when He speaks to us. Many things that have been taught to the Church have been wrong, but once they've been implanted into our minds, it's hard to rise above them. The mind of Christ (the Holy Spirit) will not speak the things of man's doctrines. It will only speak the truth of God's Word.
When the truth meets the traditions of men, we become double-minded. The mind of man (the traditional way of religion) confronts the mind of the Spirit (the mind of Christ) and now tradition runs against the truth. A mind that's been renewed by God's Word will hear the voice of the Spirit, but the mind of man (the carnal mind) will oppose this.
James 1:5-8 (Amplified) tells us that, "If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God (Who gives) to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or fault finding, and it will be given him." Verses 6&7 say, "Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating or doubting) For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind for truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything (he asks for) from the Lord." Verse 8 goes on, "(For being as he is) a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute) (he is) unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything (he thinks, feels, and decides)."
The two minds James describe here are from a man who tries reasoning out the truth with the unrenewed mind (the carnal mind) and comes into opposition to the mind of the Holy Spirit. James 1:5 says that, "If we ask God for wisdom, then He will give it." James 1:7 (Amplified) says that, "So God gave the wisdom, the religious, unrenewed, carnal mind, reasons against it, and all is lost."
It isn't that God doesn't give wisdom, but it's the unrenewed mind that will not receive it. This has been the biggest problem facing the Church for centuries. God is trying to get His wisdom to the Church by His Spirit, but we keep trying to hear Him in our flesh (carnal minds). 2Corinthians 3:15-17 (Amplified) says, "Yes, down to this (very) day whenever Moses is read, a veil lifts upon their minds and hearts (the Law). But whenever a person turns (in repentance) to the Lord, the veil is stripped away, Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom)."
When we read the Word with our carnal minds (our unrenewed minds), we continue walking in the fear of judgment, rituals and fear before God. When the Holy Spirit (the mind of Christ) reveals the truth to us, it sets us free from fear, bondage and external customs. 1John 4:18 (Amplified) says, "There is no fear in love (dread does not exist) but full grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror! For fear brings with it the thought of punishment, and (so) he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love (is not yet grown into loves complete perfection)."
We know that God's love is perfect, so John isn't talking about God's love being made perfect here. He's speaking about the revelation of God's love being understood (by His Spirit) in us. A mind renewed by the Word (the mind of the Spirit) will hear and know that Jesus bore our punishment, my judgment and penalty for my sins and trespasses. A renewed mind will now be able to walk in the liberty of the Spirit in total peace.
A carnally minded man will still walk in fear that every minute mistake will bring God's judgment upon him and he will cringe from and not draw near the throne of grace in boldness because he doesn't feel like he deserves it. He still tries making himself good enough to deserve mercy. A Spirit minded man, one who is led by the Holy Spirit, knows that it isn't because we've done everything right to deserve grace, but everything was given by grace and it's something we don't deserve. The unrenewed mind still wants to walk under the Law and be judged by his own merits. The Spirit minded man will realize that my life isn't based on my own merits, but on Jesus' grace. It's a gift to be received by faith and not by works.
If we read the Word with the veil of the Law of Moses over our eyes, then we can never be free from our past. If you read the Word of God by the Holy Spirit, then He is our liberty from all of the Law and has now made us righteous in Christ Jesus. Nothing we do or don't do in the flesh can make us right with God. Only faith in Christ and His sacrifice can ever accomplish that.
A man who allows the mind of Christ to actually be made manifest in him, can now walk before God as clean and as pure as Jesus Himself because He is our righteousness. If a man doesn't renew his mind in the Holy Spirit, then although he's born again, made a new creature in Christ and the entire penalty of his sins was paid by Jesus, he will still walk in the same guilt and condemnation he had before being born again.
We cannot bear the penalty for our pasts. Only Jesus could do that. But, now that He has and the price has been paid, we are free from the "Law of sin and death by the Law of life in Christ Jesus" according to Romans 8:1-2 (Amplified).
This is the good news and the very Gospel that Jesus came to deliver. This is what the mind of Christ will reveal to all who will renew their minds by the Word. If we are really serious about having the mind of Christ, then we will listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to all those who will listen.
Jesus says in Luke 4:18-19 (Amplified) that, "The Spirit of the Lord (is) upon Me, because He has anointed Me (the Anointed One, the Messiah) to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and the recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed (who are down trodden, bruised, crushed and broken down calamity) to proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord (the day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound." Jesus goes on in Verse 21to say that, "Today this scriptures has been fulfilled while you are present and hearing."
If it was fulfilled then, then it must still be fulfilled now. If we dare believe the truth over religion and the carnal mind, then we are free and at liberty with our Father now. The carnally minded man believes it's too easy to be true and that he must do something to earn and deserve the gift of grace. To those whose minds have been renewed by the Holy Spirit, we know that the only way to ever have this liberty is by faith in what Jesus has already done for us. It doesn't matter how hard we try or what we do, we cannot improve on what our Savior has already done for us. We need to accept it by faith because it is finished!
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