The Mind of Christ

A good friend of mine once told me that to be lonely is to be like Christ. Not only was this a timely word of encouragement at that point in my life, but it caused me to think about Christ-likeness in a whole new way. So often the terms “godliness” and “holiness” are used interchangeably, creating the impression that to be like God requires nothing more than simply doing the right things. But true godliness affects not only the things we do; it transforms the way we think and even how we feel. After all, as Paul wrote, “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:14). The implication is that in order to “receive the things of the Spirit of God” we must allow God to make us unnatural by imparting to us “the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16; Rom. 12:2).

With that said, it’s obvious in the New Testament that the heart of Jesus was broken most of the time. In Matthew 9:36, He was “moved with compassion.” In Mark 3:5, He was “grieved for the hardness of their hearts.” In John 11:35, the death of Lazarus moved an omnipotent Lord to tears. His love for humanity was immeasurable, but so was His pain every time they rejected that love.

A sure sign of spiritual growth is that we not only “fear God and eschew evil” (Job 1:1), but that our hearts are broken for the same things that break the heart of God. Ecclesiastes 7:4 tells us, “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.” Sadness is not necessarily a problem that needs solving (2 Cor. 7:10). Oftentimes sorrow is the foundation upon which solutions are built – especially when it inspires us to be part of that solution through prayer and direct involvement.

God’s Word inerrantly reveals the heart of God to humanity, and we are ourselves invited in Psalm 62:8 to “pour out our hearts before Him.” In the words of Alexander Whyte, “I do not know that the highest and most rewarded archangel of them all has an honor and excellency of grace bestowed upon him anything like this, – to be able to exchange hearts, so to speak, with God: we pouring our heart upon God, and He pouring His heart out upon us.”

The Christian who resolves to pursue the heart of God with the same fervor David did will find this pursuit does not merely lead him through the Bible, but to the Bible. Through Scripture memory, we are able to internalize what has proceeded directly from the heart of God and, through our belief in His words, be “transformed by the renewing of our minds” (2 Tim. 3:16; Rom. 12:2).