The Best Mind

The Best Mind

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 2:5

John Milton expresses an interesting thought in his Paradise Lost:

“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, or a hell of heaven.”

The mind is considered to be our innermost self, the powerful center of our being, the source from which all our behavior flows. Since the mind is so important it is not surprising that the Bible teaches us how to transform our minds, and make them more Christ like.

In Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, he holds up the mind of Christ as the supreme example of the kind of mind that God wants us all to have. So what is the mind of Christ like? First, it is humble. If Christ were not humble, He would not have come into this world, and there would have been no reconciliation and salvation for us. We read: “Christ…..being in the form of God…..made Himself of no reputation, took on the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men….He humbled Himself…” (Philippians2:5-8)

A second mark of the mind of Christ is obedience. His mind, his will, is totally committed to doing what God wants Him to do – for us. A third feature is Love. Jesus Himself says that we must love God with all our mind; and that includes loving others. We see this kind of love in Christ. Love excludes pride because in God’s eyes we are all one –His children that He is working, through His Holy Spirit to perfect, like Christ.

We are advised by God’s Word to “…fix our minds on things that are above, not on things on the earth”. Worldliness and materialism should not be our focus because according to St. Paul, we are “in the midst of a crooked and perverse world in which (as Christians) we are to shine as lights, holding forth the Word of God.” (Philippians 2:15-16).

(More on the mind of Christ later.)

Al Jones