The Mind part 3
The tricky part is that you can't USE what you've got unless you KNOW what you've got. Its LETTING the mind of Christ (that's already in you) BE in you. And you can only do that when you stop trying to get something you think you haven't got, and you start knowing and believing that you've got everything you need. You can't earn a gift, and that's a problem when you spend all of your three t's (time, talent, treasure) trying to earn your bread by the sweat of your brow. You end up robbing yourself of the gift you've been given, and you end up missing out on what's available to you right here and now. When Jesus was talking about the thief and the robber, He was talking about trying to enter the sheepfold through any other way but the door. He was talking about the straight and narrow path that leads to LIFE. Because if we're talking about REAL life... TRUE life... the abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of Jesus... then OF COURSE the only way to experience Jesus' life is to let HIM live it in us, and through us, and as us. We don't try to live His life. Nobody can live Jesus' life except Jesus. We don't try to follow in His foot steps. We simply let Him make His own foot steps in our feet. That's what letting the mind of Christ be in you is all about; we let God think HIS thoughts--thoughts of peace and not evil, to give us the expected end that is life WITHOUT end--and then we act on those thoughts. We don't try to get His thoughts. We already have them. We don't try to get His mind. We already have it. What we do is we set our affection. We set our mind. We bring our thoughts into captivity. Not by chasing down "bad" thoughts and squashing them... but by letting them go. Laying aside the sin (unbelief) and the weight that so easily besets us. Look at Philippians 4:8 in the NLT, "And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." You don't have to let your thought life control you. You can fix your thought life by fixing your thoughts on what is, let's just say, GOD. LOVE. Its easy to get caught up in things. Its easy to let things drag you down. And sometimes it really is like a snowball effect. One thing leads to another and another. But we don't have to believe everything we think. We don't have to believe in doom and gloom. We don't have to accept that things are bad and getting worse. We HAVE something better. A more excellent way. We have the truth. And the truth sets you free and makes you free. The truth that you KNOW sets you free and makes you free. Its that powerful. What you DO flows from what you BELIEVE. What you think INSIDE makes its way OUT. A lot of times in what we speak (and I think I'm still going to get more into that. Maybe tomorrow.) But my thought for today is... you can't give what you haven't got. And you can't use what you haven't got. So instead of trying to be someone we're not, in order to get something you think you haven't got... be YOU. The REAL you. The Chirst in you the hope of glory, you. USE that mind of Christ. Think those thoughts (love) of God. Fix your thoughts on HIM and watch everything else flow!