Minding Your Thoughts
A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life
Romans 12:16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
Four times in Scripture the term “same mind” is utilized. This is the first mention of the phrase. In Scripture the number four has to do with the complete creation of God. On the fourth day material creation was completed, there are four great elements on earth (dirt, air, fire, and water), the four corners of the earth represent the four major points on a compass (north, south, east and west), there are four divisions of a day, there are four seasons in a year, the Zoa has four faces (cherub, man, lion and eagle) , there are four basic members of a family (mother, father, son, daughter) and so on and so on.
What does this have to do with the phrase “same mind”? Evidently, in all that God created He desires us to understand the completeness of Christian maturity as being characterized by unity of mind. It takes mature believers to exercise oneness of mind. Consider this, God has all knowledge and His knowledge is truth. Each believer is to grow in the knowledge of God’s wisdom and truth. As an individual believer grows in God’s knowledge (Bible teachings) they grow closer to being in unity with God in mind. Our mind becomes like His mind.
There are not many minds of God, only one. His mind, as communicated to us in His Word, is open for all to read and embrace. As each individual believer matures, their mind is changed and conformed to God’s mind on matters of temporal and eternal life. As each believer grows more in singleness of mind with God, they also grow into singleness of mind with every other believer who is also maturing in their knowledge and understanding of God’s mind. Therefore, we grow to the place where our minds are single, one, or the same. Yes, different ministries, different purposes, different personalities, and different spiritual gifts, but a sameness of mind.
God created us to be of the same mind. One day our singleness of mind will be absolute. That of course will not take place until we step into eternity. Then the sameness of mind will be complete. What a wonderful time that will be. Until then, endeavor to maintain a sameness of mind with other believers, for this is part of God’s will for you.
May the Lord Bless and be pleased with your thought life today.
Dr. William T. Howe
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