The Mind of Christ is our great Reward!
We are meant to see and think the way Jesus Christ, our Elder Brother, sees and thinks.
Paul wrote by The Holy Spirit in 1st Corinthians chapter 2:
16 For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the Mind of Christ.
Let’s take one example of having the Mind of Christ.
The Beloved Disciple recorded one of many miracles in John chapter 6:
1 After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.
2 Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased.
3 And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.
4 Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.
5 Then Jesus lifted up His Ryes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?”
Jesus doesn’t ask a question because He doesn’t know the answer; He ask the question to show the disciples’ where they are at in their walk and to stretch their faith.
6 But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.
7 Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.”
Philip was yet to see Heaven’s abundance; he was still in the mindset of scarcity. Andrew was no different:
8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him,
9 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?”
10 Then Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
11 And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.
12 So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.”
13 Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.
14 Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
Jesus walked in Divine reasoning, and He would see the potential of a moment to bring forth Heaven to earth. He brought forth the abundance of Heaven to the scarcity in the earth at that moment. He was not restricted by what He was told by His disciples.
Starting with His perception is a gift that I long for. I know biblically we have the Mind of Christ. I want what is in my account to be in my possession and fully activated. This is my pursuit, and I trust that it is yours as well. I want my initial reaction to situations to be the Mind of Christ rather than a soulish reaction.
In Mark chapter 8 when Jesus spoke of the two miracles of feeding the multitudes, He warned the disciples:
15 Then He charged them, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
16 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have no bread.”
Jesus was warning them about the ways of thinking, the way you perceive reality can be shaped by these two themes. They reflect the two primary movements in the earth apart from the Kingdom of GOD.
There is the leaven of The Kingdom, there is the leaven of Herod, and the leaven of the Pharisees. Those are the three different perceptions of reality.
The other two perceptions (the Pharisees, Herod) are value systems that are not shaped by The Kingdom of GOD. They are counterfeit perceptions. They are anchoring our hearts into the inferior instead of living from the reality of GOD’S Rule and dominion toward the circumstances of life.
Every believer has the amazing privilege of living from Heaven towards earth. Very few have embraced that privilege. It is my pursuit to fully embrace Heaven’s value system by changing my mindset and discarding the world’s views and opinions. This is what it means to abide in Christ.
Herod represents the political system; it is humanistic in nature. It doesn’t mind you believing in GOD, just don’t bring that into the everyday affairs of life. It’s okay to be a Christian, just don’t bring HIM into the political office or the classroom. It’s man at the center of everything.
The Pharisees’ leaven is no better because while it believes in GOD, HE’S impersonal and powerless. It’s in form, it’s in ritual, it’s in routine, it is not in relationship. It isn’t anchored in encountering; it is simply a routine that we follow. Both mindsets are cancer to your soul!
The disciples were not reasoning from Heaven’s perspective and Jesus brought this to their attention. He was differentiating between Heaven’s perspective and the world’s perception of reality.
Our reasoning should not start with what we don’t have. Instead, let our mindsets be healed and changed so that we view reality from Heaven’s perceptions, not the world’s. This will be a great reward given to us from Our Heavenly Father.