The Mind of Christ

The Mind of Christ

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus . . . .” We read further what kind of a mind He had. He renounced being like God and took on the form of a servant. Then He humbled Himself to the point of being obedient to the death of the cross.

This is the mind Jesus had. He was not humbled; He humbled Himself. He had the mind to humble Himself. Therefore God has highly exalted Him. The only way of getting where He is, is to have His mind. We will partake of His exaltation if we follow Him in His humiliation. Jesus did not want to be alone in His exaltation—of being like God. Therefore He had to become a man first, and as such He showed us the way. He went on this way before us—this way of humbling Himself. God took care of the exaltation, which He did thoroughly. The mind of Jesus leads us to this marvelous exaltation.

“Now this, ‘He ascended’—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?” Eph. 4:9.

To ascend is the mind of Satan. We have inherited this tendency through the fall. We are carnal, sold under sin. Rom. 7:14. This is Satan’s mind: “‘I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.” Isa. 14:12-15. Here we can see what this mind leads to.

“To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” Rev. 3:21.

The way Jesus went led to a resounding victory over Satan. We can overcome him perfectly only if we go on this same way. We do not know how to humble ourselves as natural human beings. Consequently, we see how religious people attempt to make their Christianity into something great so that they can avoid reproach. They try by every possible means to glorify their religious work so they can receive credit for it. But if they are humbled and have to suffer, endure, and bear, and especially if they are treated unjustly, they speak about it, explain things, and try by every possible means to let it shine to their personal advantage. This is not the mind of Christ, neither is it the hidden life with Christ in God. Not at all! They want to have a speaker’s platform on which to sit that is higher than the others.

We are freed from envy on the way of humbling ourselves. On this way we gain the victory over anger, feeling insulted, contention, love of money, etc. We gain the victory by humbling ourselves. Yet who is willing to acknowledge that he gets angry and is contentious because he is proud? It is impossible to gain the victory without this acknowledgment. And why does a person feel the reproach when he is to confess Jesus’ name and pray for his food among ungodly people? It is because he feels so much more exalted than Jesus, so that His name is a reproach. Then such a person has not seen the glory of the mind of Jesus.

Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. Unbelievers walk according to their human reasoning. Eph. 2:2-3. The spirit of the times rules over them. When we are to walk by faith, we suffer reproach from those who live according to their human reasoning. We are considered to be stupid and simple people. Therefore it is so difficult to keep the spirit of the times out of the church. We hear this from the children who go to school. They come home and want to be like all the others. Instead of living by faith, people use their human reasoning, and the spirit of the times gains power through the will of the flesh and of the mind. They cast off the reproach of Christ and thus lose the glory with Christ.

Therefore we read this exhortation: “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit . . . .” Jude 20.

You cannot wait to do God’s will until you have explained it to people so they will understand it and think it is honorable. Not at all! You have to go by faith, be misunderstood and rejected by men, and humble yourself. Then you are chosen by God and precious. 1 Pet. 2:4.