The Christian Mind

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always beready to givea defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. 1 Peter 3.15, 16

The Christian Mind
Harry Blamires (1916-)
“We withdraw our Christian consciousness from the fields of public, commercial, and social life. When we enter those fields we are compelled to accept for purposes of discussion the secular frame of reference established there. We have no alternative – except that of silence. We have to use only the language spoken in these areas. Our own Christian language is no longer understanded of the people there. Moreover we ourselves have so long ceased to use it except for the discussion of the moral, the liturgical, or the spiritual that it is rusty and out of date. We have no Christian vocabulary to match the complexities of contemporary political, social, and industrial life.”

If we are to give a reason for the hope that is within us, we must communicate that hope into the places in people’s lives where they are presently seeking hope, and finding only fleeting hope at best. In what do people place their hope for a full and happy life? Work? Wealth? Relationships? Politics? Diversions? Investments? Popularity? If we cannot articulate the Christian hope to speak directly to such areas, we will leave our inquiring friends no better off than we, with only a narrow understanding of the life of faith. We must learn to speak with a Christian voice into these and all other areas of life, and to do this, we must sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts – Lord of all, all creation and culture, every nation and government, all of life and every area of research, interest, or concern. Sanctify Jesus as Lord, and think of the world – and speak about it – in terms of His Lordship and Kingdom. Then, as our hope shines forth in whatever area of life, we’ll know how to explain it in terms relevant to our inquirer’s experience and interest. This is the work of a Christian mind.

How does a Christian mind understand such terms as wisdom, justice, goodness, beauty, excellence, efficiency, and love? Talk with some Christian friends about this question.

Renewing the Mind
We are currently running a multi-part series on Renewing the Mind in our daily ReVision series. The second installment is entitled, The Mature Mind, 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.

Our heavenly Father supports The Fellowship of Ailbe 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).