Perhaps the most complex and even unfathomable part of the universe is the human mind, and t’s my observation that the human mind-and I include my own in this indictment-is susceptible to delusion and illness in multiple forms. Our thinking can become warped or may have always been warped depending on our background and our influences. You only have to look around at the things people do to each other, and listen to some of the things people say, write and deviously scheme to do, to see that many do not think rationally or realistically.
I’ll take that thought further. The more people refuse to seek objective truth and turn their backs on the one true God and the more they reject His only son Jesus Christ, the more their minds become detached from truth in the big and the little things of life, so that they begin to drift-sometimes dramatically-even towards mental illness and obsession of all descriptions, ranging from the “my nose is too big” variety all the way up to insisting that men can menstruate and have babies. Our entire Western culture has wandered so far that it no longer recognizes mental illness for what it is and embraces lies and falsehood instead.
FREEDOM FROM DECEPTION. Jesus Christ came to bring freedom, and one of the most important realms which this freedom is designed to liberate is the human mind. However, we have to apply the tools God provides to our own lives in order to allow that deliverance. That’s why Jesus told his disciples,
āIf you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you freeā (John 8:31-32).
Having declared to his disciples, “I am the way, the truth and the life”, He told Pilate, “Everyone on the side of truth listens to meā (John 18:37). He therefore made profound and intense claims declaring that he was and is the source and center of all truth.
People deal with truth as though it’s an option in life. They don’t like what is commonly or traditionally recognised as truth, so they look for what they do like. But by refusing to seek absolute, objective and empirical truth, the only available option is falsehood and lies.
The apostle Paul spoke of demolishing arguments and pretension, and of “taking every thought captive”. I’m convinced that this act of demolishing arguments and pretension is not just a gift Paul enjoyed, but a goal and an essential way of life for all of us.
“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).
DIVINE GUIDANCE. We can “take every thought captive”, says Paul. That includes our own thoughts and the professions of other people. That’s how we deal with deception and self-deception. Godly logic can be applied to direct human souls into truth and light. However, without the guiding light of God’s word and of faith we are like “brute beasts”, or animals which can’t really reason except on a shallow level to fulfil basic drives and desires: in this case minds are at the mercy of all kinds of godless influences and nonsense. Perhaps worst are the lies which emanate from our own faulty thinking. If we despise ourselves, or if we think too much of ourselves, or if we become obsessed with hatred and spiteful thoughts how is that faulty thinking going to be addressed in the correct way? Who is going to oppose it? The world offers fixes and solutions of many kinds tor what it perceives to be faulty thinking, including therapy, cancellation, religion and philosophies which can seem like solutions and answers. They also may provide goals for souls with illusions of hope and meaning, but there’s only one way for the mind to be healthy, and that’s in the one who created the mind: Christ.
God created humanity. He created life and the human mind. He knows how it will work properly: “For best results follow the manufacturer’s instructions”. He knows what it takes for us to have healthy minds and healthy thinking.
HAVING TWO MINDS. The follower of Jesus Christ has, in a sense, two minds. We have two ways of thinking which war against each other, one being the word and the ways of God, the other being our old, fallen, faulty way of thinking which we had before we professed faith and which attempts to re-assert itself. As believers we’re able to challenge our own thoughts and to choose the godly way, almost as if we were two separate people in one body, and it’s vital for the believer to will or to decide to follow the correct way. Obedience is an expression of true faith. If you know what’s right but habitually go the wrong way anyway, you may not really be a Christian at all, and you need to repent or change your thinking.
To an extent you are what you think: “As a man thinks in his heart, so he is”. If you think you are inadequate you will be, and you will not be operating to your potential in life. If you think you’re a woman even though your genetic makeup and your physique clearly shows you’re a man, your experience and witness in life will never be on an even keel. You will be like a performance car with one wheel smaller than the others and one or two pistons not working.
GAINING THE WILL FOR TRUTH. We all have thoughts we shouldn’t have. The question is, what do we do with them? If those thoughts are allowed to fester and continue and to develop, we can become obsessed or controlled by them. Secular psychology and societal obligation have ways of patching up or dealing with some of those problems, but the best doctor of the human soul and mind is the One who made us. However, we have to confront ourselves sometimes and to make ourselves change and do the right thing. The true believer tends to love what is good and what is true anyway: that’s all a part of having the Spirit of Christ. If you don’t love what is good-what God loves-there’s something wrong. But there are times when we’re tempted to do what we know is wrong. When we begin to think as He thinks or how He designed us to think, we move ourselves, mentally and physically, in the right direction. If we’ve been controlled by sexual immorality in our mind, God’s word which counsels against that, leads us into a healthier way of thinking about sexuality, and moves us away from obsession and damaging mistakes.
There is one huge qualification for this principle: there can be no true deliverance for the person who is not in Christ. The person who has not given over his heart and soul to the Son of God in reaction to the good news about Christ, and to the Father is still at the mercy of the worldly way of thinking. His or her spirit cannot be ruled or healed or guided by the Spirit of God. It’s essential, then, for each of us to give ourselves over, body and soul, to the gospel of Christ and to the Spirit of the living God. We must take that step of believing what God has to say in His word-the Bible. Without it we’re like a ship at sea with no navigational equipment and no clear destination.
We have to surrender our souls and our will to the God who designed and made us. Once we do this, the Spirit of God moves in and begins to clean up our inner selves. Salvation from eternal death is then immediate: “…he/she has stepped over from death to life” said Jesus (John 5:24) but the clean-up process for our inner nature is lifelong. We will never be flawless in this world, because we’re still in the flesh we were born and raised with, but we can certainly work towards perfection. This is the will of God for our lives.
WORKING AT IT. Once “saved” from our own faulty, old way of thinking by giving our lives to Jesus, we have to daily work on what’s going through our minds. We need to be “mindful” of how we think and how we treat people; what kind of impression we’re giving those around us; what the will of God is according to His word, and whether we are pleasing to our God. When we make mistakes or wilfully do what’s wrong, we need to recognise the failure and ask God for forgiveness, then put ourselves right. We can mentally “drive” ourselves, choosing daily and moment by moment to turn away from what’s wrong and towards what is right according to the world of God. Those who pretend that “it’s all God” and that you can’t do what’s right so you just “let go and let God” are fooling themselves. They are self-deceived and are ignoring many scripture passages to the contrary.
Paul counselled the Church to “….be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2), and his prescription for wrong or empty thinking was this:
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirableāif anything is excellent or praiseworthyāthink about such things” (Philippians 4:8).
