The Bible Edge
Everyone needs an Edge, Believers can have the Bible Edge
Philippians 2:5
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
How can a person, any person, let the mind that was in Christ be in them? How can we know the mind of Christ thereby use the mind of Christ? Two ways. (By the way, for more context of the Lord’s mind that we are to have, read the rest of the sentence, verses 6,7, and 8.)
The first way to know the mind of Christ is to know the Bible. The Bible relays to humanity the mind of Christ. Or at least the part of His mind that He wants us to know. The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. Paul states clearly that we have the mind of Christ. The first step of letting His mind be in you is to know His mind. Think about this, another apostle, Peter, wrote: Finally, be ye all of one mind… (I Peter 3:8) Which mind? Two people have two minds, yet Peter under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit encourages believers to have one mind. Which mind? The mind of one or the mind of the other? Frankly, the answer to that question must be, neither. They are to have the mind of Christ. By having the mind of Jesus on a matter they two have one mind.
Going back to Paul, he also wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. How can a church (a church was the object of this command) be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment? First and foremost, this can only be accomplished by deciding which mind to use. The pastor’s? The majority vote of the church members? A strong leader that wields their way through power or personality? Or Christ’s? The mind of Christ certainly, because all other minds are prone to be wrong, His mind is never wrong.
The second way to know the mind of Christ is through prayer. In James 4:13 it is written Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Here is a person who decides to do something without the benefit of knowing the mind of God on the matter. It is good to do business, no doubt. It is within the will of God to buy and sell and get gain in order to provide for the things of life. But where, when, and for how long? That is questionable. Nowhere in God’s Word does it say, “Brother so and so shall pastor the XYZ Baptist church for twenty years.” The Lord may know this in His mind in heaven, but He did not write such specifics in the Word of God. It is up to Brother so and so, and the XYZ Baptist church to seek the mind of God, the mind of Christ, on the matter. This is done through prayer. After all, two verses later, in James 4:15 this command is given: For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
The specific will of God is found through prayer. For example, it is within His will to marry, but who to marry? It is within His will for missionaries to go to the foreign field, but which field? These and many other hundreds of specifics can only be found through prayer and circumstance. Oops, another way of determining the mind of Christ has been introduced. Circumstance. Space prohibits the expansion of this thought. Let’s leave it at this. Knowing the Bible teachings, prayer, and circumstance is the illumination on the path of knowing the mind of Christ on any matter. Knowing His mind is an Edge, it’s a Bible Edge that will help anyone to let the mind of Christ be in them.
William Howe, Ph.D.
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