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The Christian mind? What's that?

The Christian Mind

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which isyour reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12.1, 2

The Christian Mind
Harry Blamires (1916-)
“There is no longer a Christian mind. It is a commonplace that the mind of modern man has been secularized. For instance, it has been deprived of any orientation towards the supernatural. Tragic as this fact is, it would not be so desperately tragic had the Christian mind held out against the secular drift. But unfortunately the Christian mind has succumbed to the secular drift with a degree of weakness and nervelessness unmatched in Christian history.”

Harry Blamires issued his call for the renewal of what he referred to as “the Christian mind” more than fifty years ago. Thirty years after that, Mark Noll published a similar broadside, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, in which he insisted that the scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is no evangelical mind. Where, Blamires and Noll asked, is the evidence that the mind of Christ, which every believer possesses, is influencing or shaping the culture, morality, and social priorities of our day? The situation seems not much improved since then. We have not heeded Paul’s warning about conforming our thinking to the ways of the world. We’ve lost our Kingdom vision (Matt. 6.33), failed to set our minds on the things that are above (Col. 3.1-3), and are not seeing in Jesus the key to revival, renewal, and awakening for our sad and weary world (Heb. 2.5-9). But this tragic situation will not change until pastors and church leaders take seriously Paul’s call to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, and proving that renewal in every area of life.

In what ways does Christ’s vision of the coming Kingdom of God inform your daily life? Your ministry?

Renewing the Mind
We are currently running a multi-part series on Renewing the Mind in our daily ReVision series. The first installment is entitled, The Mind of Christ, and is available as a free PDF download by clicking here. I urge you to follow this entire series. If you are not subscribed to ReVision, you can do so at the website. Or you can download each week’s PDF study in a format suitable for group or personal use.

Kingdom Vision
Two books can help you begin to strengthen your vision of Christ and His Kingdom. Order a copy of The Kingship of Jesus (click here) to grow in your understanding of what in the world Jesus is doing as He sits at the Father’s right hand. And what He’s doing is bringing His Kingdom to earth as it is in heaven, which is the subject of The Kingdom Turn (click here). Let these two books challenge your vision of what Christ can do as He makes disciples and builds His Church.

I’m often asked how The Fellowship of Ailbe is supported. Our heavenly Father supports us through the generous and faithful gifts of those who benefit from and believe in our work. Does the Lord want to use you in this way? Please look to Him in prayer over this question. You can contribute to The Fellowship of Ailbe by using the Contribute button at our website, or by sending your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 19 Tyler Drive, Essex Junction, VT 05452. Thank you.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All quotations from
The Christian Mind are from Harry Blamires, The Christian Mind (Ann Arbor: Servant Books, 1963, 1978).

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
Books by T. M. Moore

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