For those who are according to the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but those who are according to the spirit, the things of the Spirit. / For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace. (Romans 8:5-6)
Our experience of the church life starts with the renewing of the mind. When we were saved, our spirit was activated. But our lives as believers don’t stop there. In the meetings, when we pray, or when we fellowship with a brother or sister, we exercise our spirit. But why is it that when we go home, that exercise has so little impact on our daily living? Why do we still feel powerless in the face of sin, anxiety, and depression? Why is it difficult for us to face our family life, our work, and our everyday life with our spirit? It is because every day we live and interact through our soul — through our mind, emotion, and will — but this soul is untransformed and fully intact in the old creation. The initial stage of our transformation as believers has to do with our mind unto the new creation.
Matthew 13:1-9 tells the familiar parable of the seeds that fall beside the way, or onto rocky places, or onto thorns. When we hear the word, that word is a word of life to us. It is a seed of the kingdom, ready to take hold, sprout, and grow. And when we hear the word, we might be touched in our spirit — take it in and taste the sprout of life! But a few days later, if the life has no adequate soil to root, it will wither. This is just like us: we may touch the word in the meeting, even get excited and share, but when we return to our daily living, that life is soon extinguished, unable to grow into and throughout our beings.
The Bible makes specific mention of the mind: to set the mind on the spirit (Rom. 8:6), on the things of God (Matt. 16:23), and on the things which are above (Col. 3:2); it also tells us to be transformed by the renewing of the mind (Rom. 12:2). Why is the mind so important? When we were saved, we were regenerated with a new life. This life has nothing to do with the old; it is always new, always fresh. That’s why when we touch our spirit, we experience life like a fountain, flowing water to refresh and satisfy us. But our bodies are mortal; our beings are of the old creation. So it is a life process for us to be transformed, bit by bit gaining ground in the new creation. Romans 8:10-11 says, “But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. / And if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.” When we set our mind on the spirit, we will experience the growth of a heavenly kingdom life within that saves us and makes us right before God and makes us the church, God’s new creation.
Today, if we are determined to gain ground in the new creation, the answer is to set our mind on the spirit. The spirit is where Christ dwells, where the fountain of newness gushes out. It is not enough for us to exercise our spirit or focus our mind on the spirit only in the meetings, or when doing “spiritual activities.” Our entire life is a “spiritual activity”! And anything we do requires this mind set on the spirit. If we can live our daily life in this way, our soil will be “good earth” that life can not only enter into and sprout, but take firm root in. The more this life grows throughout our being, the more “new” we become day by day. This is our full salvation: to be transformed unto glorification and ultimately transfiguration — to be something completely new, utterly without the weight of the dusty, earthen, old creation.
(Above are notes of fellowship taken from a gathering on 5/22/2024, not reviewed by the speaker.)