Some people in the Church have traditionally understood Christianity to be little more than mental assent, proclaiming “I believe in Christ” to be the essence of their faith. But when the winds of life’s hard times or vigorous opposition to Christ and their faith hit them, mental assent changes to “I don’t believe in Christ anymore.”

A woman claiming to be a Christian, who knew I was a minister, once told me that I should listen to the late Christopher Hitchens, an avowed atheist whose writings reeked of his hatred for Christ and Christians, as well as all religions. He died of cancer and pneumonia in 2011, never denying his hatred for the God he didn’t believe in. I politely told the person urging me to read his writings, “No thank you. No atheist has anything to tell me. I’ve experienced God and the power of Christ. Nothing anyone says or does will ever take their reality from my life.”

Why? Because, as the apostle Paul says in 1 Cor. 2:16, “We have the mind of Christ.” Jesus Christ is both reality and spiritual power in the lives of all believers. Although some Christians in the Church─even today─accept Christ as nothing more than belief in him as a religious leader of his times, try telling that to the thousands of college students who are believing in Christ across America. Or to the thousands coming to Christ around the world, even in Israel and Muslim countries.

To these new Christians today, Christ brings to their lives something new and exciting and real. Their experiences of the person of Christ as God’s Son and Savior cause them to cast off sins and addictions, and many are being healed by God of both physical and mental illnesses.

They have the mind of Christ, and the mind of Christ is spiritual power.

The power of Christ fueled Paul’s life and ministry. He said, “The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God,” and, “to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ [is] the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor. 1:18, and 24-25).

You have Christ’s power in your life because you have the mind of Christ.

Paul’s assertion of this bold and powerful claim summed up his argument that only spiritual people can understand the gifts and truths of God. Believers in Christ have been given the Holy Spirit, who teaches us God’s truths. Unspiritual people, like Hitchens, do not know God or even want to comprehend anything about God. And because this is so, Paul says, “The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one” (1 Cor. 2:15). Because God’s wisdom is greater than human wisdom.

Don’t let anyone judge you for believing in God, or mock your faith in Christ, because living within you are not only the person of Christ and the Holy Spirit, but the very mind of Christ. And the more you experience Christ’s presence and power in your life, greater your faith becomes each day that God is everything the Bible says he is.

What exactly does all this mean? First of all, we have the mind of Christ not because of mental assent, but through our faith in him. Christ is not just someone to believe in, but someone who becomes a part of our lives. When believers have a real relationship with Christ, we then think like him. We don’t sin because we don’t want to. We conquer addictions of any sort because the power and presence of Christ in our lives has replaced our need for them. We love others because Christ loved all people. We believe the Bible to be truthful and the Word of God because Christ believed it was. And because we are in Christ, we experience it’s truths.

I’ve known and helped people conquer addictions to sex, drugs, alcohol, negative thinking, and other things through the power of Christ. Paul, who referred to himself as once the world’s worst sinner (1 Tim. 1:12-16), experienced God’s power in Christ to become the greatest missionary and theologian of his day. That’s why he would say, “The kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power” (1 Cor. 4:20).

To have the mind of Christ is to have the spiritual power of Christ.

We should never think─as some want us to─that the power of Christ is magic, or that it has anything to do with silly superstitions new or ancient. The power of Jesus Christ is the power of God and the Holy Spirit inherent in Christ and his death for our sins, and in his resurrection to new life.

Jesus Christ is not a shadow or an ancient fable. He is the reality of God himself, for he is God’s own Son (Col. 1:15-19, and Heb. 1:1-4). When we believe in Jesus Christ, when we commit our lives to him, his mind─and his power─are at work in our lives.

Paul  warned Timothy that in the last days people would appear who pretend to be godly, but who deny the power of God. He cautioned him, “Avoid such people” (2 Tim. 3:5). Earlier in the same letter he reminded Timothy, “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (1:7).

This is the mind of Christ. And since his mind lives within us, we can and should be everything God wants us to be in Christ.

Having the mind of Christ also helps us understand how much God loves us. Some Christians have trouble believing this because they have been told, often in childhood or teen years, that God loves them only when they’re good and will judge them harshly─even for sins they don’t know they’ve committed.

I’m amazed how many Christians I’ve encountered, young and old, who believe this.

After all, some believers in the Church, especially Calvinists, like to point out that Christians are still sinners. This stems from Calvin’s belief in total depravity. But not even Calvin could point to this concept of human beings in Scripture. It’s true that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). But it’s also true that in Christ all believers have been forgiven of their sins (Acts 2:38-39, and Rom. 5:1). Paul, in  fact, calls believers “saints” more than once (Rom 1:7, 1 Cor. 1:2, Eph. 1:1, Phil. 1:1, Col. 1:2, 1 Thess. 3:13, and elsewhere).

Furthermore, if all human beings were created in God’s image (Gen. 1:26-27), no human being was ever, in Calvin’s definition, totally depraved. Sinners, yes, not because God made us so, but because he gave us free will. Sin is never from God, but from the hearts and minds of human beings.

Nothing God created in his image could ever be totally depraved.

Having the mind of Christ assures us that we belong to God forever and ever and are loved by him just as long. Paul addressed the believers in Rome this way: “To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints” (Rom. 1:7). And later in the same letter he assured us that nothing “ . . . will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus” (8:38-39).

Along with knowing God loves us, one reason we have the mind of Christ is because God wants us to have confidence in ourselves that we belong to him and that we can accomplish what he has called us to be and do. The writer of Hebrews said, “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God . . . . Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (4:14-16).

Jesus talked to his Father often, and he never doubted God’s grace and power in his life even though he was born a human being. Since we have Christ’s mind in our lives, let us stir up the power of Christ within ourselves. When we do, we will always have confidence in God and in ourselves to be his movers and shakers, compassionate and healing people in a world of sin and sickness and fear.

 

The End