A MIND RENEWED INTO CHRIST
“And be renewed in the spirit of your mind.”
Ephesians 4:23
The negative forces seek to control
with all their propaganda and brainwashing. Many a battle is being fought and
won in the mind, making it a vital necessity that we “put out of the way once for all everything that would impede the free
action of your mind, be calm and collected in spirit, and set your hope
perfectly, wholly, unchangeably, without doubt and despondency, upon the grace
that is being brought to you upon the occasion of the revelation of Jesus
Christ” (1 Peter 1:13, Wuest).
As the Lord deals with our thinking, there also comes a
stripping away of the façade and masquerade, which we have put forth because of
our thoughts of the past. We thought we ought to act a certain way to have an
image of spirituality, which was not a
true manifestation of what we really were, but super-imposed as a disguise
of what we thought we should appear. Now we are challenged to “change our outward expression to one that
comes from within and is representative of our inner being, by the renewing of
our minds” (Romans 12:2 Wuest).
We rejoice in the truth, “Christ
in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27), because it is His Spirit dwelling within. Yet, because of the trappings of the
carnal mind, it has often been difficult to give expression of this inner life
of Christ. Now, the more we are “renewed
in the spirit of our mind,” the more we can live out that which He is becoming in us. This is more than just the mental
gymnastics of our own self-efforts. It is
the energizing of His Spirit upon our human spirit, which in turn takes
dominion over our mind and brings our mind into subjection to the Spirit of
Truth. May it become the ‘norm’ of our life to just be thinking His thoughts, that we might “show forth the praises of Him who has
called us out of darkness
into His marvelous
light” (1 Peter 2:9).
From Daily Overcoming
“…but be transformed,
by the renewal of your mind…” Romans 12:2
The word Paul
uses for renewal means, in the Greek,
“new in point of character and
nature…When Christ comes into a man’s life he is a new man; his mind is
different, for the mind of Christ is in him.
When Christ becomes
the center of life, then we can present real worship, which is the offering of
every moment and every action to God.”
William Barclay