Right Mind part 5
"Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous" (1 Peter 3:7). That's exactly how I feel today. Finally. At the end of the Rant series. After we've looked at what it means to be in our right mind--to let the mind of Christ that's already in us BE in us--and after we've looked at how we GOT the mind of Christ--when Jesus gave His life, or His heart, or His mind, or His Spirit for us and to us--and what we can DO with the mind of Christ--stop trying to figure out God's thoughts and stop trying to "act" like God--we come to the bottom line. And if anybody knows me they know I'm a bottom line kind of guy. So here's the bottom line: Love one another as we are loved. Having the mind of Christ lets us know how we are loved, and let's us love one another with that same love. And I really like what our verse says, "be ye of one mind." It's not me trying to line up with you or you trying to line up with me. Because the only real way for us to line up with each other is by both of us lining up with Jesus. Because if I'm lined up with Him and you're lined up with Him... we'll automatically be lined up with each other. At least when it comes to having compassion for one another, and loving one another, and being pitiful and courteous. The important things, in other words. That's what the mind of Christ--you RIGHT mind--is really all about. I've heard it said like this, "Major on the majors and minor on the minors." Don't let all of the little, inconsequential stuff dominate your thinking. Keep you affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Focus on what matters, and stop making mountains out of molehills. I always like to say it like this: When we know who we are we won't sweat the small stuff... and when we know who we are we'll realize it's ALL small stuff. God is so big... LOVE is so big... that when you begin to fill yourself with the fulness of God, everything else just kind of begins to fade away. You'll stop looking at God--at LOVE--as the most powerful, and you'll start to see Him as ALL powerful. Which means He has ALL the power. Which means everything else is darkness and shadows and lies and... nothing... that flees in the face of the light of the world. The light of Jesus is the life of men. And that's what we're talking about; living His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life by letting HIM live it in and through and as us. Partaking of the Divine Nature. Not living "for" God--as if He is our boss, or some sort of separate entity--but living BY God. Living IN Him even as He lives IN us. That's what having ONE mind means. ONE heart. One God and one Spirit and one baptism. No separation. The right mind equips and empowers us to know who we are, and who God is. He is our loving heavenly Father and we are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. With the right mind we know that we are loved, and that we CAN love one another with that same love!