"Your Mind Must Be Renewed"

Ephesians 4: 20-24 .

20) But ye have not so learned Christ;

21) If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:

22) That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

23) And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

24) And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

I

t is more common than ever to find Man questioning what the mind has to do with salvation. This is because wherever one looks, he can find an advocate of "doing your own thing" amongst the ranks of those professing salvation. Actually, this is a "doctrine of devils," for Jesus died that Man might be able to do "His thing" and not his own. It was Lucifer's own mind that got him into trouble with God; it was not having the mind of Christ that made him unfit for heaven.

So, what, then, does the mind have to do with salvation? Simply, if one's mind never becomes dedicated to and renewed by the Lord, then that man will never be fit for the kingdom. Because man is born a natural human being, he is limited in what he can do for God. Perhaps the best example of this is in the children of Israel, who were given a code of laws but were unable to follow them. And why was that? Though they could hear the words of the Lord and understand what he wanted, they were unable to meet His expectations due to the limitations of their minds.

Man must be changed and his mind completely renewed because of his nature. After all, Adam and Eve knew what it was wrong to do, yet they did it anyway. Why? Because of their nature. Without being renewed by the Holy Spirit, we will continue to do wrong because it is in us to do so. That is why the sin nature must be gotten out of us and the propensity to sin be replaced by the determination to do right.

Even being taught what is right to do will not assure that right is done. You see, just knowing what is right is not all of the "battle." The real "warfare" takes place in the mind and a mind not "re-shaped" to see things God's way will never be able to see the need to do so.

So, how are we ever helped? By accepting that we do not know what we think that we know. This is the battle that will keep many out of heaven, because directly related to this issue is that of pride. Too much of our self-worth is tied up in what we know. Being saved, none of our "worth" is to have anything to do with us, for the only worth that we have is our worth to the kingdom. So, think about it: just exactly what have you done for the kingdom? How much have you "produced" and how valuable are you?

Why does there seem to be so little production from those in the kingdom of God? Well, we must look at what we do with God's "information" once we receive it. Most often, we file it away until we either need it or want to apply it to someone else. Too often, when we hear the word of God, we avoid asking the question that would make us responsible for that information, namely, "Is what I am hearing, true?" Of course, should the answer be positive, then we cannot possibly ignore it without suffering the pangs of disobedience. Not that we escape, anyway, for truth is truth and once heard, its hearer becomes responsible for it. What we are dealing with is a "mind game," which is, after all, keeping with our subject.

Notice how, even in the churches of God, all can sit in a congregation and hear the same message, yet proceed differently. This is because existing in those congregations are men with varying "degrees" of spirituality and submission to the Lord. If there is any part of any mind that is not completely dedicated to Him, there will be a "confusion" of guidance, with "signals" sent by the Lord and some by the flesh. The individual, then, will be "off course," at best.

Any and all "motivational" problems are solved by a cessation from living for self and a commencement of living for the Lord. In that all that happens in life is programmed by the Lord, anyway, how much better it is to be able to understand His direction by having no impediments to understanding. Life any other way is a miserable one and will be no better until the "problem" is corrected—us! We are always our own problem. Do you doubt it? Well, is Jesus ever a "problem" to us? Would any self-respecting saint of the most high God ever admit that he feels this way? If Jesus is on our side and we are on the side of Jesus, what could possibly be our problem? Jesus upholds His "end" of all bargains, so the "fault" must rest with us.

When you oppose yourself, there is no place you can go and no one you can "leave behind" to make things "better." Your only recourse is to go to the "source" and root out and destroy. So, guess who must go? You! The Holy Ghost cannot enter a life and that life go unchanged—unless the liver of the life fails to submit himself.

Salvation is not designed to allow one to be happy apart from full cooperation with God. In our case, He has made sure that this will be impossible by setting before us a servant who untiringly proclaims the word of God and its (and His) requirements. This makes us ever aware of our shortcomings and makes it impossible for us to be "comfortable" if not willing to correct them.

We have made excuses for ourselves for years and have even managed to get a few to agree with us. Now, instead of changing others for the worse, it is time to change ourselves—for good! If your mind tells you that you are "all right" just the way that you are, fine, but if the Lord says otherwise, always know that He will have a Church, for He has decreed it. The only unanswered question is, "Will you be in the number?"