The Mind of Christ   1 CORINTHIANS 2:12-16    The best life you could possibly live is the one your Creator has designed for you. He has given believers everything they need to become more like Him and to achieve all He has planned for them. Since the way we think is vitally important in this process, the Lord has given us the mind of Christ. Now we have the capacity to think as He does and to see situations from His perspective.

This marvelous ability to align our thoughts with His is a gift that we receive from God at the moment of salvation. However, the practice of it is our responsibility. We all come to Christ with minds which are already “pre-programmed” to one degree or another. For example, a child who grows up hearing demeaning comments will probably incorporate them into his concept of who he is and what he can accomplish. Also, this world system is constantly attempting to fit us into its mold, and Satan tries to inject his lies into our thinking.

If we are to experience the abundant life the Lord wants us to have, old thoughts that do not agree with God’s Word must be replaced with truth. Then we need to screen the ideas that bombard us each day. As we cooperate with God in this ongoing process, our lives will be transformed.

Compare your thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs with biblical teachings. If they don’t match, reject those patterns of thinking, and fill your mind with corresponding truths from Scripture instead. Since the Lord has empowered believers to think right, let’s cultivate the mind of Christ within us

Love the Lord, Hate Evil

O you who love the Lord, hate evil!

Psalms 97:10

You have good reason to “hate evil,” for just consider what harm it has already caused you. What a world of mischief sin has brought into your heart! Sin blinded you so that you could not see the beauty of the Savior; it made you deaf so that you could not hear the Redeemer’s tender invitations. Sin turned your feet into the way of death and poured poison into the very fountain of your being; it tainted your heart and made it “deceitful above all things, and desperately sick.”¹

What a creature you were when evil had done its utmost with you, before divine grace intervened! You were an heir of wrath just like others; you ran with the crowd to do evil. We were all like this, but Paul reminds us, “but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”²

We have good reason, indeed, for hating evil when we look back and trace its deadly workings. We were in such a sorry state that our souls would have been lost if omnipotent love had not intervened to redeem us. Even now it is an active enemy, always looking for ways to harm us and to drag us to perdition.

Therefore “hate evil,” Christian, unless you desire trouble. If you want to cover your path with thorns and plant nettles in your pillow, then fail to “hate evil”; but if you would live a happy life and die a peaceful death, then walk in all the ways of holiness, hating evil right to the end. If you truly love your Savior and want to honor Him, then “hate evil.” We know of no cure for the love of evil in a Christian like daily communion with the Lord Jesus. Be often with Him, and it is impossible for you to be at peace with sin.

Order my footsteps by Thy Word,
And make my heart sincere;
Let sin have no dominion, Lord,
But keep my conscience clear.

¹Jeremiah 17:9
²1 Corinthians 6:11