One of the greatest challenges for Christians today is knowing who they are in Christ. We are told how to become saved, but more often than not, we seldom are given the tools needed to become who God truly called us to be. As a result, we walk through life never reaching our fullest potential in Christ. Hope is not lost though, as we possess the key to walking a life with Christ in the renewing of our minds. So why is renewing our mind vital to our walk?
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. On the sixth day, God created mankind in his image and after His likeness. Made in all perfection, the first man, Adam, was given dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle, and over all the wild beasts that move upon the earth. Mankind and God enjoyed perfect communion together. So what happened? Man fell from God’s grace as a result of rebellion against God’s command and there life as we know it truly begins.
God made Adam as a triune being consisting of a Spirit, a soul and a body. When Adam sinned against God, he died in the spiritual sense. The Spirit, the soul and the body were no longer aligned with God’s Word. That’s important as the three parts must be in agreement with each other in order to walk in the fullness of God’s power and authority. The Bible says that a house divided against itself will never stand (Matthew 12:25). Adam’s choice to sin against God divided the triune against itself. No longer was Adam alive in God, as His spirit died. No longer was his soul (mind, will and emotions) pure in thought. The god of this world had blinded him and in so doing contaminated the whole human race that was to come. The good news however, is God had a plan. So what was God’s plan?
The Bible tells us that God sent His Son, Jesus to earth. How do we know? John 1:14 says that the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us”. That’s right! Jesus, the Living Word, was among us shedding “the true light which lighted every man who came into the world” (John 1:9). So why was His presence a key to our future? Jesus walked the earth for a time spreading the good news. As He did so, he drew many to him through His teachings, signs and wonders, but His message was not received by all, in fact, many rejected Him and all He came to offer them. No matter what ran through the minds of the people however, God had a plan and Jesus would be the key to the very future that lay ahead for all mankind. Knowing no sin Himself, Jesus was sacrificed upon the cross, taking upon Himself the very sins of the world.
Let’s not stop here, for it is real easy to underplay the tone that His death served. The shedding of Jesus’ blood played a significant role in our salvation. Leviticus 17:11 says, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood”. Jesus’ blood became the key to our life. In what way? When Jesus was nailed to the cross, He took upon Himself our sins. Immediately, His spirit was separated from God. Jesus sacrificed His Spirit and soul for our spirit and soul, but His sacrifice didn’t stop there. Jesus also died a physical death, thus sacrificing His body for our body. As He hung upon the cross and died, we hung upon the cross with Him dying to our old nature. When He was buried, our old nature was buried with Him and when He rose to the right hand of God, we were raised along with Him. That’s right! We are no longer slaves to our old nature, but have now donned upon us the new nature – His nature, His mind and His life.
It’s important to understand that when we accept Christ, the Spirit part of our being is instantaneously born again. What’s so important about our spirit man? It is the part of us that communicates with the spiritual realm of God and is instantly changed. Keep in mind that though our spirit instantly changes, our soul does not. Our souls must grow to spiritual maturity. So how do we get to that place of spiritual maturity? God’s Word must reach beyond our spirit. It must go beyond the initial hearing that comes when we receive Christ. Spiritual maturity is a gradual process of growth that comes about through the receiving and adhering to, the obeying of and the agreeing with the Word of God. In order for understanding to benefit us rationally, the Word must make it out of the Spirit and be welcomed into our mind, will and emotions which is contained within the confines of our soul.
Remember, our soul is a living person (Ephesians 4:23) and belongs to God (Ezekiel 18:4). In order to renew ourselves, the Holy Spirit must shine conviction upon our unsaved spirit so that the unsaved soul, where the thoughts, words, light, nature, and fruit of the Spirit abide, can be convicted and renewed. The Bible tells us that the natural man (Romans 12:2) must die daily. By making a willful choice to remember that he has to be changed, he chooses to change of his thoughts and bring them in line with the Word of God. By doing so, he allows the power of the Spirit and the Word of God to reach his mind. It is God’s desire that our soul yield to His Word so that it can go into man’s spirit and soul and fill it with rational, spiritual, godly reasoning. The Word is living and possesses power to change. God wants His Word to enter into our spirit so that it will move into our mind, senses and understanding to cause the divine wisdom to become rational understanding.
If our mind is not renewed, we can’t walk in the authority (2 Corinthians 4:3-7) as we will lack the power required to uproot the presumptuous thoughts that enter into it. It is important that what runs through our soul is pure and in line with God’s Word (Matthew 12:33-37) as each soul God created was created with a sovereignty and with an ability to determine its destiny (Ezekiel 18:4). I choose to walk in my destiny, serving God to the fullest and the first step to that path is renewing my mind. Will you walk with me? The choice is yours.
Tags: 2 Corinthians 4, Adam, Challenges, Christ, christians, Ezekial 18, God, Jesus, Matthew 12, New Nature, Power and Authority, Renewing your mind, Spirit, The Body, The Soul, The spirit, Walking in your destiny
