Focal Passage: Romans 8:5-8; 1 Corinthians 2:12-16; 2
Corinthians 4:3-4
It never ceases to amaze me how baffling non-believers find
Christian behavior. I even understand why it leaves them scratching their
heads. Christians go to the same building carrying the same book to do the same
thing week after week.
We (are supposed to) forgive when others seek revenge,
remain silent when others shout and hold ourselves to a standard that only One
has ever achieved.
It would stand to reason that non-believers would ask
Christians, “Are you in your right mind!?”
The focal passages today set the stage for some very
“opposite” behaviors or mindsets. There is the difference between the
spirit and the flesh for example. Christians and non-Christians are like
sight and blindness respectively as Paul wrote to the Corinthians (2 Cor. 4:3-4.)
Ultimately, it is human wisdom as opposed to the “mind of
Christ.”
Christians have their eyes opened by the Holy Spirit and are
fully aware of the cost Christ paid. That awareness brings about the desire to
follow He who gave everything for us.
It’s a mind-set, an intentional focus on the desires of
Christ and the telling of God’s love.
The Christian’s mind-set may not be easy, without pain and
suffering or lacking in frustration. It has to be a daily, sometimes
minute-by-minute choice requiring intense focus and necessary devotion.
A mind-set that the ones who have it describe as including
pain and suffering, having frustration, and demanding focus and devotion . . .
that is the RIGHT mind-set? It would not only stand to reason that
non-believers would question the Christian mind-set, it would be crazy if they
didn’t.
It is only through the veil of the Holy Spirit that anyone
can see it.
Jesus said that we are not to be “of the world” even though
we are “in the world.” We must keep the right mind-set to live as Christ
called us.