The Mature Mind (4)

Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature.

In the law it is written:
“With men of other tongues and other lips
I will speak to this people;
And yet, for all that, they will not hear Me,” says the Lord. 1 Corinthians 14.20, 21

Go to the ant, you sluggard!
Consider her ways and be wise… Proverbs 6.6

The whole counsel of God
The mind of Christ, which all believers possess, is the mind of the Word of God, for Jesus is the Word become flesh, crucified, dead, resurrected, and exalted in glory. A sound mind, maturing daily in the mind of Christ, is essential for a strong soul. Paired with a well-kept heart, a sound mind enables us increasingly to become true disciples of Jesus Christ, the Word of God.

The Word has set a good portion of His thinking into a permanent form in Scripture: Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (Jn. 6.63). “All Scripture,” Paul explained, “is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable…” (2 Tim. 3.15-17). Jesus said of God’s Word that it is truth (Jn. 17.17). The Scriptures are the words of God about the Word of God, Whose mind we possess, and into the maturity of Whose mind we are commanded to grow.

Similarly, the world, which the Word of God upholds by His Word (Heb. 1.3), and which all holds together in Him (Col. 1.17), necessarily reflects elements of His thinking, and can yield insight and understanding for those seeking a mature mind.

In our text for today, Paul cites the Law of God to confirm the argument he has been making, and which comes to its conclusion, in verse 20: “in understanding be mature.” If we want to have a mature mind, we will need to hear the voice of God; therefore, maturing in our minds requires that we submit our minds to the whole counsel of God in Scripture, and begin to discipline our minds to think the thoughts of God after Him, as these are made known to us in His Word and His world.

If you have not developed the practice of daily Bible reading and meditation, it is highly unlikely you will get very far into the mind of Christ. Without the Word of God in Scripture to form your thinking, expand your understanding, enlarge your love for God and your neighbor, and counsel and shape you into the kind of moral being who puts others first – without Scripture, I say, you will not make progress in the mind of Christ, and you will always be trapped within the puny confines of your own best ideas or of the best of the thinking of your peers. You will always think and live childishly, and thus will reinforce the ways of this unbelieving age, rather than invite and challenge people to consider Jesus, believe in Him, become more like Him, and take every thought captive for obedience to Him.

A mature mind begins with mature habits of reading and studying God’s Word.

Studying the Word
But how shall we study Scripture to gain a mature mind?

Jesus taught that we should devote ourselves about equally to the Old and New Testaments, so that we will have the riches of each to bring to bear on whatever our minds are considering (Matt. 13.52). Here I recommend establishing a pattern of daily Bible reading that takes you through the entirety of the Bible on a regular basis. If you read two chapters of the Old Testament, one of the New Testament, and perhaps one chapter from a gospel every day, this will get you through the Bible regularly, so that you enrich your treasury of divine revelation for thinking with the mind of Christ.

We should pay special attention to the Law of God, which God gave to Moses, for this is the “core curriculum” of the Spirit (Ezek. 36.26, 27), the key to thinking with His mind (Rom. 8.5-8), and the touchstone for understanding how to train our hearts to love God and our neighbors (Matt. 22.34-40).

And, in the same way, as we have seen, we should meditate daily on Jesus (Col. 3.1-3), since in Him we find the “finished product” of God’s training program for righteousness (2 Cor. 3.12-18).

By establishing a regular program of reading, meditating, and perhaps journaling on the Word of God – Old and New Testaments, Law and gospels – and by finding like-minded friends with whom to discuss your studies, you will begin to absorb more of the mind of Christ, and to make progress in attaining a mature mind of your own. If you already practice this discipline, ask the Lord to help you see with increasing clarity how Jesus makes Himself known through every section of God’s Word (Jn. 5.39). For it is in seeing Jesus that we become like Him – in heart and mind, but also in life.

Studying the world
We should also expect to increase in the mind of Christ as we study to discover His glory in the world around us (Ps. 19.1-4; Prov. 25.2). Solomon gained the wisdom and mind of God by studying as much as he could about the world – flora and fauna, the arts, politics, human relations, and much more. Even though he found it difficult to bring all his studies under the light of God’s revelation in Scripture, so that he could understand things the way God does, he knew this “difficult task” had been appointed to all people as well (Eccl. 1.13).

Gaining a mature mind is hard work. Children, who like only frivolous and easy things, won’t take up the apostle Paul’s call to be mature in their thinking. They won’t follow Solomon’s example in seeking to discover the hidden glory of God in the everyday things of the world. Those who prefer to remain children, rather than to grow to maturity in the mind of Christ, will never make a serious contribution to the Kingdom of God. They’ll spend their Christian life looking for ways to maximize self, even if at the expense of others. As Susie’s beloved Bible teacher, Pat Hunter, used to say, “They will arrive in heaven in the same receiving blanket in which they were born.”

Or perhaps not arrive there at all (2 Cor. 13.5).

Paul says we must no longer be children in our thinking. We must press on to maturity, and that part of working out our salvation is no less a struggle than any other aspect of this high and holy calling to become more like Jesus in our minds, and in every aspect of our lives (Phil. 2.12; Phil. 3.14).

For reflection
1.  Does your reading and study of the Bible reflect the kind of pattern described in this lesson? Can you see any areas where you could improve in this discipline? What might you do?

2.  Meditate on Psalm 19.1-4 and 1 Corinthians 10.31. What is the glory of God? How can we glorify God in every aspect of our lives?

3.  With which aspects of God’s world are you regularly involved? That is, to what cultural activities, social spaces, parts of creation, and so forth does your Personal Mission Field lead you? Can you see any ways that learning more about these would help you gain a more mature mind for serving others? Explain.

Next steps – Transformation: Decide on one thing you can do to improve your disciplines of reading and studying God’s Word and His world. Begin right away to seek Jesus through this “stereoscopic” approach to the revelation of God.

T. M. Moore

This might be a good time to review our recent ReVision series, “We Would See Jesus.” You can download the four installments in that series by clicking here. If you need help learning how to “read” the “book of creation”, order a free copy of our book, Consider the Lilies: A Plea for Creational Theology by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.