Which mind in you is the most dominant, which one seems to be the most controlling one in your life, the one that is prevalent; the mind that you serve, the mind you fight, or the mind of Christ.
We know and understand which one is to be at the forefront of our daily lives. “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Cor. 2:16) But is it, do you have the mind of Christ, or is that just a hopeful desire for you, that one day, probably not until you are glorified, you be able to have this mind. Many Christians do not realize that they already have all that they are going to be given, the Holy Spirit of God does not move into the heart of the believer in stages, He comes complete, as it were, it is us that keep many of the doors of our lives shut to Him, in this is the greatest exercise of our free will, the ability to keep the Lord from owning every part of our existence.
The greatest battles we fight are not against our adversary, they are against ourselves, the mind that we fight. We want us to be us, and to give ourselves over completely to the will of the Most High in our minds is to lose the battle of self, what we are commanded to do. Think of it in that terminology, a battle, every weapon necessary for the victory has been given us, yet we choose not to use them, at least not all of them, for in this battle we must use them against ourselves. No man wants to see himself as his greatest enemy, and yet he is in these regards, as someone said many years ago, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”
The mind we serve is the one that defines our character, if it is the mind of Christ, that is who we will see ourselves as, an image of the Savior, a reflection of the Lord, who we should be being made into, and it is who others will see also. If it is the mind we fight, then others, and ourselves, will see a desire above all others to be like Christ. For the man who has no fear of God before his eyes (Romans 3:18) will not even begin this battle, he long ago will have learned that serving self is the easiest option when it comes to matters of the heart. Only the born-again believer can fight these battles, and only those who have an extreme desire, have made it their daily goal to have the mind of Christ, will even begin to attempt to step into this fray. “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62)
You, not anyone else, not even the Lord God, is responsible for how you fight this battle, He will of course be there for encouragement, but this battle is up to you, you have been given the most powerful weapons ever created, the Word of God, you have inside of you the presence of the fulness of the Holy Spirit, you lack nothing to win this battle. What is required by us is effort, desire, humility, and submission, if you do not use these character traits and use them wisely, you will never have the mind of Christ, you will serve the mind that has determined that self is the safest, easiest way, and you will stop fighting the mind within you that says otherwise.
You must be able to understand this, is the mind that you are fighting the Holy Spirit of God within you, or the part of you that will not listen to Him, the self that resides within each of us that constantly screams, “My will be done! You do not need the assistance of our adversary in this battle my friends, he may send one of his emissaries to whisper in your ear occasionally, but there is no need to, nor can you blame it on the original sin that we were all born with, both Lucifer and Adam fell on their own accord, there was no original sin in our first descendant the day he made the decision to accept that fruit from his wife. I cannot say what it is, no man can, but it was there when we were created, it is the mind we fight, but it does not have to be the mind we serve.
To say you want the mind of Christ cannot be words said lightly, much thought must be given, for this will be the most difficult battle of your life, you must fight yourself, not just your sinful nature, but who we were before we ate of that fruit, who we were before we said “my will, not thine.” Every fiber of your being will need to be engaged in this battle; every single thought will need to be held captive for Christ. (2 Cor. 10:5) The one whose mind you are attempting to have, the Most Holy One we are to be like. If you decide to step on this path, you will find more than your fair share of adversities, you will fight against not only spiritual darkness in high places, (Eph. 6:12) but against your very nature, you will become your worst enemy.
You will understand the question I have posed to many over the years, and received more names of individuals for an answer than I can count. The question is this. Who was the worst sinner who ever lived? When the answer from your lips is, “I am, I am the worst sinner that has ever lived,” then you will know that you have begun the first steps on the path of this battle. Few have travelled this path, but all who have, have found much travail upon it.
