“For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ…”
What does it mean to have “the mind of Christ”? Among other things, it means to think like Christ. It means to be as much like Christ as we possibly can, knowing that we can’t be exactly like Christ. We see bracelets with WWJD written on them. Of course, that means “what would Jesus do?” I was thinking about that this morning and it occurred to me that we should also have bracelets with WWJND inscribed on them. That means “what would Jesus not do?” If we want to think like Christ, we need to think in the positive and the negative. I thought of a few things that Christ would not do, that we should take to heart. Jesus would not harbor hatred in His heart toward another person. I used the word “harbor” advisedly here, because I don’t want you to get the idea that Jesus would never get angry with another person. Getting angry with other people and harboring hatred toward them are two different things. For example, when Jesus cleansed the temple He was angry. He was not just angry at the situation, He was angry with the people who were “buying and selling.” This didn’t mean that he hated those people. In fact, cleansing the temple was an act of love, because Jesus was righting a wrong. Jesus would not have an unforgiving spirit. In the Lord’s model prayer, He taught us to pray: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Jesus set the example for us in this matter of forgiving others. No one was ever more mistreated than Jesus. All that Jesus did was good. When He came among sick folks, He left them well. He touched lepers, which no one would dare to do in that day. But he was falsely arrested, falsely tried and falsely taken to Golgotha to die. The first words that Jesus said from the cross were, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” This prayer of forgiveness stretches across the centuries to reach us. Jesus would not retaliate against people who mistreated Him, or for any other reason. Retaliation is almost a natural reflex. The idea is that if you do something to me, I will do it back at you and we will be even. It was Jesus who taught us: “You have heard that it has been said, An eye for an eye, and tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, that you resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.” At this point you might be thinking that I have lost my mind. No. I have not lost my mind, but I know that if I would think with the mind of Christ, I would not retaliate. I do not mean to imply that not retaliating is easy. What I mean that if we try to not do what Jesus would not do, we will not retaliate. This is a small portion of what it means to have “the mind of Christ.” Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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September 2021
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