Tags
Carl Gustav Jung, darkness, flesh, God, Jesus Christ, light, psychology, sanctification, Satan, Sigmund Freud, spirit, thought life
Light and Darkness (Photo by Paul Schuberth)
During the years before God freed me completely as regards to my thought life, I struggled a lot with my self-made mind control, which, honestly, never worked at all. Thoughts come and they go. They always “go together” with those good and bad feelings they cause. And they don’t ask me, “May I stay or should I go?” Instead, they seemingly do what they want. The reason for their impertinent “behavior” lies in the fact that every recurring thought or dream has an invisible root that is hidden deep within our hearts. Recurring thoughts use to bother us and therefore we are often lost in them or speak about them if possible and appropriate. If we don’t have anyone with whom we can share the thoughts which grieve us for example, or which reveal our deepest longings, then the thoughts will ”reveal themselves” somehow automatically by coming out of our mouth in inappropriate situations as well. Here I am reminded of Jesus who said that the mouth speaks “out of the abundance of the heart” (Lk 6:45).
As long as I was trying to control my thought life on my own, I was like a gardener at the attempt to fertilize a limp tree by cutting off some brown and dry leaves. Afterwards the tree looked a bit better than before, but the bigger part of the plant remained sick since the roots were lacking vitality. And soon there were again brown leaves all over the tree.
What I find so comforting with Jesus is the fact that I may show Him everything I can’t get rid of. There is nothing Jesus would not understand since He is not only God, He is man too. Walking in the spirit, which means here living with Him who is quasi “controlling” my thought life (2 Cor 10:3-5) by changing my heart (i.e., by nurturing the roots of the tree), is a kind of freedom I have never known before.
In fact, I have been set free to think whatever might occur in my mind and to understand any thought, word, or deed (esp. sin) other people tell me secretly because there has been no thought I have not been thinking at some point as well.
Regarding psychology, that’s not a real new observation since Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung undertook the essential preparatory work in this area. One might also say that nothing human could be foreign to me because Jesus constantly teaches me to understand and hear and feel (more and more) like He does – HE to whom nothing human is foreign at all.
However, there is a big difference between psychology and Christian faith. Even though psychology offers objective observation of the subjective mind and heart, it can’t help us change the outcome of thoughts and deeds, that means, psychology only offers solutions in the area of the visible “tree”: pills which let a sick tree look better on the outside or exhaustive talk about brown leaves dying on sick branches (i.e., our undigested past that can still mess us up as long as we are not yet completely one with Christ). Psychology never reaches the rotten roots in the human heart. Here we urgently need our Savior and His freeing Spirit.
Well, I have just been thinking about how a good thought, in fact, could be like and I think that every thought which is rooted in God’s spiritual love, which makes us want to share His unconditional love with our neighbors, will eventually bring forth deeds of love, peace, joy, and so on (Gal 5:14-23). Maybe I am simplifying here a bit?
In my humble opinion, there is no difference between our thoughts at all. Therefore we should not judge anyone because of their thoughts. The difference between living in the light of God and living with our back to it, that is, walking and stumbling in the darkness, lies solely in the fact that living in the light, i.e. walking by the Spirit, means to freely show God our thoughts and in so doing we can be assured of being loved and fully accepted by Him.
The “darkness” is only the absence of light, but not a realm of different thoughts, even though they may be twisted by Satan’s deceptive maneuvers which can have the effect of a distorting mirror that nonetheless intrinsically entails the true, pure, and good thought of divine origin.
I believe that there is nothing (here: no thought) we could create on our own, because God is the Creator of everything. Before any word is spoken and any deed is done, there is always the thought consisting of words. I have been thinking especially of the introduction to the gospel of John, for it is written,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” […] “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” […] “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (Jn 1:1,3,5)
Entering the Promised Land 
Susanne,
There is some deep contemplation here on your part. There is definitely a mind that is controlled by the flesh and by Satan and then there is the mind that is guided (notice I did not say “controlled”) by God. Paul wrote,
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not a thing to be grasped to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8 KJ2000).
Then Paul was so bold as to say,
“But the intellectual man receives not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; and he is not able to know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But the spiritual man discerns all things, and is himself discerned by no one. For who knows the mind of the Lord, who shall give him counsel? But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:14-16 GDBY_NT).
From where does this transformation of natural man to spiritual man, natural thinking to spiritual thinking come from? Where do we get this mind transformation from? Taking the lowest place among our peers is NOT normal for fallen man. We in our fallen natures want the chief seats in our gatherings like the Pharisees of old. The “cream rises to the top, right?” But God says of the natural man,
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9 KJ2000)
In Romans we read,
“I exhort you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, your reasonable service: and he not fashioned after this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:1-2 GDBY_NT).
Some would read this and say that from this text we can expect God to fix-up or renew our old minds and make them compatible for HIS kingdom….Wrong! The word here in the Greek is “metamorpho”. This is not a renewing or fixing up of an old thing any more than you can put new wine in an old wineskin without rupturing it. NO! This requires a whole NEW mind.. the mind of Christ! It is no more similar to the old mind than a caterpillar is to a glorious butterfly after going through metamorphosis! How do we know that we have His mind? Because this mind does not seek glory, fame, fortune, or anything this world has to offer.. THIS mind is other worldly! And when found in a fleshly body in this world it finds the experience rather humbling, not something to be proud of. This mind humbles itself and seeks every way possible to be a servant of God so that he/she might be used of Him to lift others out of the myth of this arrogant, godless world existence into heavenly places IN Christ Jesus.
This mind is a divine gift from God that comes with the death of our old mind of Adam within us. We become living sacrifices to God. This is the nature of the NEW Covenant… It is ALL a work of God and not of us! Like Jesus said, “The flesh profits nothing!” (see John 6:63, Jer. 31:31-34 and Ezek. 36:26-27).
God bless you my sister!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Michael. Beautifully written! Your comment has been very well elaborated and it has been a joy to read it. 🙂
I agree with your distinction between “a mind that is controlled by the flesh and by Satan and” […] a “mind that is guided” by Him.
The first seems to me being part of the bondage of the will, as Martin Luther described it, and the latter appears to be a matter of choice on our own part. Yes, we are the ones who decide whether they want to walk in the Spirit or after the flesh which has been our habit before we received His Spirit in our hearts. But nothing is more difficult for us humans than to get rid of our old and embosomed habits. Therefore we urgently need the Lord’s Spirit power in order to be set free from our old “thought hamster wheels”, since apart from Him we can do nothing (Jn 15:5).
We are helpless like newborn babies in this heavenly realm (i.e. the Kingdom of God) where we can’t even take the next step forward because we do not know where, and how, and when we ought to go. We always need His guidance and sometimes it even feels like “control” to me. Although I am not a puppet on a string and I know that I still have (theoretically) the choice to say, “No!” to His commandments – one might wonder at it – but I cannot resist Him!! If I claimed here that I felt urged or even “forced” to do what He wants me to do, one might get it wrong again. His power is not anything that would force me to do something which I do NOT want, rather, He always commands what He wants to be done AND makes me want to do (and think) exactly THIS – nothing else.
Insofar, I feel somehow “controlled”, yet I love being controlled by Him of whose LOVE I have been assured before. And I am glad that I am no longer free to think nor to do bad things – as Christ’s bondservant (Eph 6:6), so to speak.
“For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Cor 4:5-6 ESV)
LikeLiked by 1 person
There is a proverb that says, “A man makes his plans, BUT God will establish his path.” Once we yield our hearts to Jesus Christ, He makes our paths straight according to the Father’s will. Paul wrote,
“Likewise reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but under grace.” (Romans 6:11-14 KJ2000)
In light of what you just wrote, I guess the crux of the matter is, now that we have come to Christ do we reckon ourselves still sinners, or do we reckon ourselves alive unto Christ and dead to self? This is why we need renewed minds.. His mind in us.
Also, I think that this conversion comes easier for those who have had a life changing encounter in a personal way with Jesus.
Thanks, for your reply, Susanne!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow great reply. That helped me a lot. Thank you very much.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes, Michael’s reply was awesome, Fred! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fred, I am glad that you were helped. When we blow it and find that our mind and even our actions are going contrary to the voice and the will of God as He conforms us into the image of Christ, we can waste much time beating ourselves up which accomplishes absolutely nothing other that allowing our flesh to go on focusing on our flesh. Or we can “cast all our cares upon Him for He cares for us.” It is here that the power of a transformed life in Christ comes from.
There is a big difference between condemnation and conviction. The devil condemns us for being human with our human frailties and we only feel worse and cut off from God as we focus on his accusations. BUT that is NOT God. God sends the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin, but that is not all.
“And when he is come, he will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness…” (John 16:8 [KJ2000])
The Spirit also brings with Him the grace of God that both provides the will and the power to do… He points out our shortcomings and then invites us to turn about and go a new way by HIS power and His holiness being made a reality in us. Apart from the Spirit of Christ we can do nothing. So when these things happen, we go to Him in prayer and call out on Him to come in and do what ONLY HE can do, give us a new heart and a new mind and until He does, we rest knowing that if we ask our Father for a fish He will not give us a serpent. All we can do is throw ourselves on His tender mercy and rest while we wait upon Him to do the rest.
Love you, my brother!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, Michael. I believe you were right by saying, “Also, I think that this conversion comes easier for those who have had a life changing encounter in a personal way with Jesus.”
The better we know Him, the more we will be able to resist sin due to a greater extent of the Holy Spirit inside of us (Eph 5:18). It is His power of LOVE, finally, which enables us to put to death what is earthly in us (Col 3:5). Or in other words,
“The bigger the fill, the greater the kill.”
😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Is it a bad thing that I do not fully understand this? I know from personal experience that trying not to think about something causes me to think about what I am trying not to think about. I don’t like having what I bad thoughts or memories from my past. I got so angry at my self yesterday (or was it Monday?) for having some major bad thoughts I felt my self acting like my old self and I don’t want to bring him back. I had to sit back and pray to calm my self down. Which did work. Although I didn’t calm my self down GOD calmed me down.
LikeLiked by 2 people
You are right, Fred. Just try to NEVER think about a blue elephant and what do you immediately see with your mind’s eye? 🙄 Most certainly no green elephant. 😉
Nobody likes to have bad thoughts that are tormenting. But we only keep brooding over things that have a certain relation to our heart and its deep roots that are hidden to the physical eye. However, I guess you need no “advice” here since your story speaks for itself. It is, in fact, God alone who can soothe our mind and sometimes it is not easy to wait on Him until He finally does so. But good thing, He always does. For it is written,
“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” (Is 26:3 ESV)
Angry at yourself? Oh, I know that one too. How often in the past I thought, “Susanne, you should not be feeling or even acting that way!” And after things had calmed down for a while, I thought that part of my old self was gone. But alas, it kept reappearing, again and again. Dying to self is indeed a very long process and God does all the killing through His Spirit. And we miserable human beings can only watch Him helplessly after we have given up on changing ourselves without His help. Not fun, but a lesson which is (difficult) to be learned.
LikeLiked by 1 person