I have found the book of Psalms to be a gold mine of knowledge and encouragement and if grasped and applied, wisdom. As most of you who follow this blog and ministry know, I have been teaching through Psalms for nearly two years now and a conservative estimate is that it will take five to seven more years to complete. I say that because I have made it to Psalm 39 and extrapolating from there gives me a good idea of what to expect. Aiding the five to seven year time frame is the fact that I have already taught through Psalm 119. That chapter alone took me nearly nine months. I say all of this to drive home the point that the Bible is so full of nourishment for believers that it is a shame so many Bible teachers hurry through it as if they have a schedule to maintain. In doing so they miss the rich texture and multi-layered significance of the Word.
One such example is what I realized this morning as I studied Psalm 39 in preparation for teaching it this Sunday. I started the chapter last week and got to verse four. The musings of David about his life and his circumstances led him to consider that perhaps his viewpoint was not accurate and so he cried out to God for a fresh perspective (verse 5).
Have you ever considered the importance of a proper perspective? The New Testament teaches that we are to be diligent in our study of the Bible so that we are able to accurately handle the “word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). The Apostle Paul also instructed the Corinthian believers with these words: “Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature” (1 Corinthians 14:20). Earlier in the same letter Paul told these believers that every one who is born again has “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). Considering that truth this morning gave me pause.
What are the implications of this truth? Because we have the mind of Christ in fact and in promise, we must make the most of that; to see the world as God sees it; to think through the challenges we face today with a fresh perspective – with the mind of Christ. I found this quote from TM Moore in my digital library that captures the essence of the point I am making here.
The mind is, together with the heart and the conscience, one of the components of the soul. It’s the aspect that manages our thought processes. Those who have come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and King have been renewed in their minds; they must no longer use their brains like unbelievers do, but, instead, work to think like Jesus about everything (Eph. 4:17-24). We cannot live the full and abundant life in Christ without increasing engagement of the mind and all its functions. To the mind falls the task of gathering, comparing, sorting, and storing all the information that comes our way. The mind creates new ideas out of fragments of thought. With our minds we formulate plans, organize our work, direct our speech, and routinely assess our progress in every facet of life. The process of thinking includes the varied activities of observing, analyzing, comparing, combining, revising, refining, improving, cataloguing, and organizing everything we think, say, and do. Further, our minds are continuously active. They pursue their God-given functions no matter what. If we’re not diligently and faithfully attending to those functions, the world spirit of the age will obligingly squeeze our thinking into its own mold (Rom. 12:1, 2 Phillips version). As John Stott indicated in a book by this title, your mind matters, and it matters very much. It is indeed a terrible gift to waste, and, if we find that we’re acting like children in our thinking, as the Corinthians were, then we need to press on to maturity and make the most of this glorious gift of God.
We see David doing that in Psalm 39:3 – “while I was musing the fire burned.” While he was contemplating life, his life and his circumstances, his whole being burned to know, to understand, and so he cried out to God in verse 4. There David is asking God for and thanking Him for perspective. David is saying, “Help me to see life, to see myself through Your eyes God.”
A proper perspective is a liberating thing to acquire. Often our perspective is flawed and it becomes a prison of the mind that is nearly impossible to escape. But for those who will seek God for His perspective there are a multitude of blessings.
Consider these three blessings of a proper God-given view of life.
(1) When we see things as God sees them we love Him more. Study carefully what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians in 3:13-21. Of particular interest is verse 13 where Paul says don’t focus on my circumstances because you will despair. In other words don’t lock into an earth-bound perspective. Then note verses 16-19 where Paul says instead of focusing on troubles focus on the riches you have in Christ and the great love that God has for you because when you do that you will be “filled up to all the fullness of God” (verse 19). All I can say is wow!
(2) When we gain God’s perspective we see temptations as they really are and are strengthened to resist them. That is one truth we see emerging from Psalm 39:3-4. David contemplates, he “muses” about life and its ups and downs and concludes that if he is to resist the wicked (Psalm 39:2) and if he is to resist sin and temptation (Psalm 39:1) he must acquire the mind of God (Psalm 39:4).
(3) Having God’s perspective on life and circumstances protects us from being carried about by every wind and wave of false doctrine. Ephesians 4:11-16 speaks of this. Note in that passage verse 15 which says that believers are to “grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ.” We are to acquire the mind of Christ increasingly. This is the essence of spiritual maturity.
Remember friends, “God has not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).
May God richly bless you as you seek Him with your whole heart today.
The TM Moore quote is from his article “The Mature Mind: Having and Using the Mind of Christ,” a publication of Wilberforce Press. It is available at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview by clicking here.
As I read this post, I think of when I first got into apologetics and how much better I was for engaging my mind into my faith. My parents had raised us well, so this is not a reflection on them but when an atheist spent three hours on summer dawn trying to convince me of his worldview, he asked questions I couldn’t answer. At the time, I took it upon myself to learn more.
It opened up a realm that I did not believe because of ‘mere’ faith as some would say but because the tenets of my belief could be back up by empirical data. Of course, at the the end of the day, it is the working of the Holy Spirit to change us but it felt so good to know my faith is not a blind faith.
Quiet as kept, due to people such as Lee Strobel, WLC, Ravi, Frank, Hank, and thousands of other lay and professional apologists, there are discussions going on bending our minds to see our belief as more than a ‘spiritual’ thing. Which does lead to a proper perspective. I saw a hysterical article by an atheist, who swore up and down he used to be a Christian and then lost his faith and became an atheist, about how “How to Debate William Lane Craig”. If you get a chance to google it, you’ll see it. I mean, WLC’s arguments are pretty solid. And Dawkins for all his talk won’t debate the guy. And for all his hot air, if he so sure and solid in his own viewpoint, his own perspective, what’s the big deal? Now, some of WLC’s stuff I don’t agree with but they’re small things I won’t lose sleep over. Molinism confuses the heck out of me. When I first heard about it, I thought it was the study of moles. I got to thinking, “Why are various apologists getting all riled up about moles? Is there some kind of cosmological argument to be found in, ‘Whack a Mole?'” Then I went to WLC’s site and got lost when I saw math formulas past the form of 2 + 2 being mixed with big words and figured I’ll leave that one alone.
Getting back on point, I was talking to my mom last week and she was talking about the Vietnam war and how pictures of war were being sent to America during that time which caused people to vehemently protest against it. In the article she was looking at it made the statement that images of war are being suppressed nowadays. That struck me as interesting because how can you have a proper perspective if you’re not given all the facts?
But then, maybe it doesn’t matter. Planned Parenthood got caught ON TAPE selling baby parts, making money, admitting they were killing children, and people are still coming to their defense. Like something’s wrong with the pro-lifers because THEY got caught on tape breaking the law. I’ve never seen anything like it and this administration is just supporting them like, “Oh they’re doing a great service.” And I love how the media in both fiction (Law and Order: SVU) and reality tries to portray the clinics. “Most women just come here for birth control.” Oh really? Well, how did all those numbers come up about millions of abortions being performed every year . If it’s just birth control then it totally sucks because it ain’t working.
It’s absolutely insane. If we see the gift of life as God sees it, then at conception, we ARE. I can’t remember what my first thoughts were (probably ‘I’m hungry’ Or “Lord, will there be Mountain Dew when I grow up?”:) ) but I became into existence. I saw this one video online which actually showed an abortion being performed. I could only watch five seconds of a thirty second video but they showed the child moving and then the scissors came and I turned my head away. So how is PP a hero for cutting off life?
I have no idea if I’m really responding to the post or not since I typically get off track but thank you again for sharing your thoughts. I hope I get better at being more Christ-like in my thoughts so that my actions will follow.
Hi Parker:
One of the most important points I’ve learned over the years on the subject of having the mind of Christ is that it is not an automatic upload or software upgrade if it is appropriate to use that analogy. Having the mind of Christ requires we first grasp the truth that it is available to all God’s children as a birthright. Then second that we must pursue it. It comes through effort and sacrifice. The effort and sacrifice are in the context of denying this world and all the allures and distractions that will stunt the growth of every Christ follower who allows the mingling of the two. Of course this will mean that the one who pursues the mind of Christ will look and act very differently from the lost world and sadly today, much of the professing Church. We are witnesses to the utter spiritual bankruptcy that results from having a worldly form of godliness but without the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. This is evidenced by the multitude of so-called Christians who actively support abortion and the killing fields of Planned Parenthood. But it is also manifested in the multitude of Christians who believe their faith is proved by their works. The social gospel has become the “other/another gospel” that the Apostle Paul warned against. Thank you for the correspondence.
Blessings,
Mike
Amen. Thank you. I hope I get better at this thing.