Losing your mind?

Philippians 2:5 records, "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus," and then goes on to describe that state of emptying self and taking the form of a slave, or servant for God. God does the exalting when we are willing to empty ourselves into Christ. Martin Luther put it this way, "God made the world out of nothing, and it is only when we become nothing that God can make anything out of us." When Peter declared Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son of the living God, Jesus told him that flesh and blood did not reveal this, but my Father in heaven (Matt. 16:16-17). Paul puts it this way in 1 Cor. 2:16, ""For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ."

Do we? Surely if we have the mind of Christ we are not living according to the cultural ways of self-preservation, or self-glorification. Yet that still seems to be the way that many in the church live! Why? Surely if we have the mind of Christ, according to the way Jesus lived and is described in Philipp. 2:5-11, then what are we doing acting with such arrogance and using manipulation as means to "our" ends?

During prayer in the spring of 1997, I sat alone in my den with the windows open going into a time of Scripture reading, meditation and deep prayer. I could hear the spring birds singing, feel a warm gentle breeze blowing into the room, smell the fresh azaleas and dogwoods, and it was in an instant that I was taken out of my mind. I literally left all my own conscious thoughts and soared out of the house and into the sky. I have subsequently come to fully believe that our minds and our own thoughts are prisons. To take the mind of Christ is to enter a different culture, a different world. I need to move beyond my own limited finite world and agenda. The wonderful experience that morning is not significant in and of itself, but the outcome is what matters. Due tot he peace and presence of God that I experienced then, and subsequent to that time, I have been given a deeper and more lasting peace. This stayed with me throughout that day, and can continue. Only then can I be truly available to serve God and neighbor without trying to use them for my own needs and agenda. I can more fully listen (which has always been a challenge to one who likes to talk so much).
The world of Christ is not one that we can create or recreate. It is one that we are invited to participate in, if we will become nothing, if we will relax and rest in the power, presence and love of God in Jesus Christ. There is no alternative that the world has to offer that compares to this experience. This is what God calls all of us to embrace: sincere worship and obedient service -- as Christ did and does! Through humility, grace and love!
Amen