The Mature Mind (2)

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 2:5

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Christians have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). This is an astonishing statement – both a fact and a promise, as well as a challenge and an aspiration. Since we have the mind of Christ, we should want to make the most of that way of seeing the world and thinking through the many challenges and opportunities that come our way each day. Too many believers, like the Christians in Corinth, are merely children in their thinking when it comes to using the mind of Christ. But the teaching of Scripture is that we can mature in our thinking, so that the mind of Christ we possess increasingly becomes the mind through which we look out on the world and prosecute our affairs in it.

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And the starting point of that long struggle for a mature mind is in emptying ourselves of all mere self-interest and self-centeredness, taking up instead a mindset of serving others at every opportunity, in every situation. This was the kind of thinking, as Paul explains, that led the Word of God to set aside His eternal perquisites and power to take upon Himself the life of Jesus of Nazareth. The Word became flesh because doing so was consistent with the eternal mind, the unchanging Logos, of God. And in so doing He made Himself a servant of sinners, so that through His service and sacrifice He might deliver us from our guilt and sin.

What is involved in emptying ourselves like this, so that we might “have” the mind of Christ? Paul tells us: First, we need to “count others more significant than yourselves” (v. 3). That is, in order for our minds to function as they should, our hearts have to become re-oriented as well. The way we regard others – our attitude toward them – is a function of our hearts, where the affection of love is engendered. If we truly love our neighbors as ourselves, we will actually regard them more highly than we do ourselves, because this, frankly, is the way we would want them to regard us!

Paul goes on in this passage to tell us practically how to do this: “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (v. 4). That is, we need to take the time to discover the needs of other people, beginning with the folks we see each day – at home, in the neighborhood and community, at work and church, and so forth. We’ll have to take the initiative to get to know people a little better, and it will help as well if we can become good listeners. In our conversations we’ll begin to discover the things that matter to the people around us, and then we can begin to pray for them and their concerns with more focus and consistency. As opportunities arise to speak a word of encouragement, affirmation, or wisdom, or to offer some gesture of help, we will be much more likely to notice those open doors and to go through them if we have begun to empty ourselves of our own needs and concerns to begin paying more attention to those of others.

We have the mind of Christ; therefore, we can learn to think like Jesus, see others as Jesus did, and train our minds to analyze, reason, and plan in such a way that reaching out to others in self-denying love becomes just a matter of who we are in Christ. But you’ll have to work at, and if you can work at it with someone else, each of you praying for, challenging, and holding the other accountable, your ability to have the mind of Jesus in all situations will begin to increase noticeably.

Mature Mind