MORE THINKING LIKE JESUS
Shouldn’t we try to think like the One who loved us so much that He died for us and, in so doing, paid the price for our sins past, present, and future?
Shouldn’t we fight our flesh minds and be led in our thoughts as He is led in His?
If so, our thoughts would be led by Love, belief, peace, grace, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, patience, kindness, goodness, gratitude, positivity, trust, joy, and gladness because His are.
We can’t be perfect at thinking like Jesus, but we can strive to change. One way to do this is to see the world as He sees it. We can cast our eyes not on the things that are seen but on the things that are not seen because the things that our flesh mind/natural eye see are temporary and subject to change, but the unseen things are of God and are eternal.
(2Corinthians 4:18)
The best way to change our thinking is to consume His Words. Our thinking changes when we make His Words the energy source for our lives. This is what Jesus said about that:
“Unless you eat My flesh (ingest His Words) and drink my blood (choose to believe that Jesus guaranteed every Word He said and promise He made with His blood) you have no life in you. My Words are Spirit and life; the flesh counts for nothing.”
(John 6:53 and 63)
When we consume His Words, we learn the true character of the King of Love and how He thinks.
Here are some examples:
Think about the second thief on the cross. He was judged and condemned by the human thinking of Roman and Hebrew Law. He was guilty.
He did not get baptized, repent, or confess. Yet Jesus told him that because he believed in Him, he would be in paradise that day.
(Luke 23:42-43)
Religion teaches us that we must do things to be saved and blessed. Jesus repeatedly taught us that we are saved and blessed by His righteousness, not our behavior. Holy Spirit taught us through our appointed teacher, Paul, that our salvation and blessings are a gift from God and not our behavior.
“For it is by GRACE (God’s willingness, power, and ability that have done those things for us that we can not or will not do for ourselves)that you are saved by faith. (Living in this present moment with joyful celebration of the receipt of the great and precious promises of Jesus regardless of what our senses tell us) AND THIS IS NOT OF YOURSELVES, IT IS A GIFT FROM GOD.”
(Ephesians 2:8-9)
Religion teaches us that God “will not bless a sinner.” Jesus chose to die for us while we were yet sinners.
“But God shows and clearly proves His love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Jesus died for us.“
(Romans 5:8)
Here is an excellent example of the difference between how our flesh minds work and how Jesus’ mind works. It is called the parable of the prodigal son:
“Then He said, ‘A certain man had two sons.
The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that falls to me.’ So, he divided the estate between them.
A few days later, the younger son gathered everything he had and traveled to a distant country, where he wasted his fortune in reckless and immoral living.
When he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to do without and be in need. So he went and forced himself on one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.
He would have gladly eaten the carob pods the pigs were eating, but they could not satisfy his hunger, and no one was giving him anything.
But when he finally came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough food while I am dying here of hunger! I will get up and go to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; just treat me like one of your hired men.”
The Prodigal Son used his flesh religious mind to attempt to solve his problem. He did what religion teaches us we must do. He created a confession and repentance speech to give his father. He was not sure, but he hoped that his confession would earn him a lowly job with his father.
So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, was moved with compassion for him, and ran, embraced, and kissed him.
The father did not even think about what the boy had done. He did not judge or condemn him. He was moved with compassion for him and ran and hugged him. The father thought and acted like Jesus does.
And the son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.‘
Again, the Prodigal Son thought and acted just as religion teaches us to. He repented and confessed, but the father didn’t pay any attention to what the son said.
But the father said to his servants, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe for the guest of honor and put it on him; and give him a ring for his hand, and sandals for his feet. And bring the fattened calf and slaughter it, and let us invite everyone and feast and celebrate, for this son of mine was as good as dead and is alive again; he was lost and has been found.’ So they began to celebrate.
This parable told by Jesus is a lesson in how our heavenly Father sees us. The moment we turn to Him and choose to believe and believe in Jesus, our sins, past, present, and future, are forgiven and have been removed from His memory.
(John 6:28-29, Isaiah 55:7, John 6:45, John 3:16-18, Romans 8:1, Romans 10: 9-10, Zephaniah 3:17, Psalms 103:1-3 and 12, Isaiah 53:4-5, John 1:29, Revelation 1:5, Hebrews 8:12, Hebrews 10:10-18)
ON THE OTHER HAND:
“Now his older son was in the field, and when he returned and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. So he summoned one of the servants and asked what this celebration meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.’
But the elder brother became angry, deeply resentful, and unwilling to go in; his father came out and began pleading with him. But he said to his father, ‘Look! I have served you these many years, and I have never neglected or disobeyed your command. Yet you have never given me so much as a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends, but when this other son of yours arrived, who has devoured your estate with immoral women, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him!’
ENTER THE RELIGIOUS WORKS/ HOLIER THAN THOU/JUDGMENTAL CONDEMNATION GROUP.
These are those who have been sitting in the front pew of the first church of unbelief for many years. They are staunchly entrenched in the earn-it business. Just like the older brother, they believe that their holiness entitles them. They can not accept Jesus’s grace for all message. They call it “greasy grace.” Their minds are led by their flesh and not the teachings or thinking of Jesus.
The father said, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But it was fitting to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was as good as dead and has begun to live. He was lost and has been found.“
(Luke 15:11-32)
I bet the elder never accepted the father’s truth. Few do today. Our flesh minds struggle to reject the “you get what you deserve” thoughts fed by the evil one. It’s hard to accept that Jesus would leave the ninety-nine sheep to go get the lost one. To accept it, we have to change our minds. To think like Jesus, we have to take off the old unregenerate self and put on the new self, led of Holy Spirit to think like Jesus.
