God has given us the spirit of a ‘sound mind’ (2 Tim. 1:7). This phrase, ‘being of sound mind’ is used in making out a will to indicate that we know what we are doing when we make provisions for what will happen after our death to what we possess. In a similar way, at our baptisms, we declare our sound mind in Christ and before witnesses showed our trust in God and hope for resurrection from death that will inevitably overtake all til Christ comes.
However, we must continually renew the mind of Christ (Rom. 12:2) by examining ourselves by the light of the word. 1 Cor. 2:15-16 reads “But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the LORD, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.” If we made full use of the power of our religion growing year by year in the development of our spiritual lives, practicing daily our faith, we, by our lives, would solve our problems and fears by bringing them to God. If we, were only what we might be!
Bridges Have Weaknesses
Unfortunately, we, like the world around us, may become spiritually unbalanced. A psychiatrist, J. R. Oliver, wrote of his profession as being as a consulting mental engineer specializing in human material. He must know what the material is being used for, and what the strains and stresses are to which it is exposed. He compared him to an engineer called in to examine a bridge or tall building, who first examines the material from which the bridge has been built; considers the workmanship expended on it, and also how much weight that particular bridge may be expected to bear. Then he compares the tugs and strains to which it is exposed, how much and what kind of traffic it is supposed to carry, etc. A footbridge cannot be expected to carry freight trains. Finally, he must get at the weak spots in the bridge. No human bridge was ever so well built that it did not have a place of least resistance, and neither do we . These places must be reinforced. He must insist that the bridge not be exposed to greater burdens than it can reasonably stand. Above all, he must look for and put his finger on the concealed weaknesses, the rusted rivets, the slightly bent supports that are concealed by the apparently strong superstructure. And this must be done before it is too late; before the material is so bent and strained that it can never be repaired at all.
God Made Us
God created us and knows our weaknesses and will not impose greater strains than we can bear if we keep our mind centered on him. We have the responsibility of self-examination for hidden weaknesses and obvious flaws that may threaten our ‘bridge.’ We need to continually reinforce our supports or foundations of truth and watch the traffic that we allow to ‘traffic’ through our mind. The cares of the world are like a loaded freight train that if allowed unlimited access to our mind will crash us into the ravine below instead of a continual ascent to the mind of Christ. We need to discard all hopelessly unsound material and keep only what is strong and unimpaired. God will put his laws into our mind and write them in our heart and we can be his people if we have fervent, willing and ready minds to hear. (Heb. 8:10, 2 Cor. 7:7, 8:12, 19).
The world is as a bridge threatening to break, but sadly, most of the people do not recognize this and laugh at those who warn them of over strained piers’ and ‘cracks that will widen deadly danger’ as alarmists or nut-bridge doctors and some go away in a rage as Naaman the Syrian did when told that the foundations of their life are out of course. Like Naaman they want someone to strike his hand over the place and recover them instantly out of the blue. They want ‘instant salvation’ and not a sincere, dedicated study of God’s word and His requirements that only can provide the sure foundation needed and the rust prevention to survive the traffic we are called on to bear. They may not realize a sense of impending disaster and they merely complain of petty little discomforts, little realizing that these ‘little discomforts’ are signs of an over strained, weakened and falling bridge. They do not allow the Word to step in and stop this fall before it is too late.
Christ is Coming
Christ is coming to restore mental balance to this world as he did to the unbalanced of his day when those who came to him were restored to their right mind. He will first cast out the unsound material at the judgment who have claimed to be ‘his bridge and his workmanship’ but are found unfit for use and He will reclaim the sound material to use to assist him in restoring the world to God, to build a safe bridge enabling a change from man’s nature to immortal nature til at the end all the world will be at one in God.
Mr. Oliver also wrote of the mentally unbalanced people’s recognition of Jesus as son of God (whereas those who thought they were whole, i.e. the scribes and Pharisees who Thought were whole and of sound mind but were not and did not recognize the son of God) as follows:
“People, unhappy, anxious, self-tormented people, are drawn toward real holiness as moths are drawn to a candle. The brighter the candle, the wider the ring of its light, the greater the number of hurrying, blinded, flying things that gravitate toward it. And if the candle is not lighted at all, it will not attract even the dullest, most blundering moth. For it is still true, that ‘ye are the light of the world.’ Your light — the light of your own spiritual life — may not shine very brightly before men; you may not be overanxious that ‘men should see your good works’; but when the anxious, fearful moths of this human world, who have singed their wings in so many different devouring flames, are brought within sight of it, they will recognize it at once as a source of healing and of help, because the light that you give comes from the same source that set glowing the live coal that once touched Isaiah’s lips—the altar of the One Perfect Sacrifice once offered for the sons of the whole world. Yes, they will really test you, these people who come to you for help. And the world will judge you by your influence upon them.”
Are we Making Progress
Christ is our judge, the world is crying out, even if it knows it not, for help. We need to ask ourselves if we are making definite progress in our spiritual life to have the mind of Christ. Can we truthfully say that we are closer to God than we were a year ago ? All our knowledge will not help us much to help others, unless our own spiritual growth shines out more brightly so the people around us are forced by our very lives to take notice that ‘we have been with Jesus.’ We cannot remain static but most go on developing our spiritual reactions, so that we may radiate heat and light. Then when Christ comes we shall be part of that light that will cause the darkness to grow thin at its deepest edges til the earth becomes full of the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea.
Take Ten Minutes
As ‘consulting mental engineers’ of our lives and others, we will find that taking 10 minutes for God whenever and where-ever we can find them will act as a daily spiritual salt to season the whole 24 hours of each day of our lives. This is the right antidote to all the hurry and rush, all the anxieties and fears, all the temptations of the domestic or work life. When we savor our lives with 10 minutes for God, it will soon make itself felt in the salt less lives around us, giving tone and taste to the most insipid environments. Without salt as a chemical entity there can be no life. It is as necessary in the blood of our bodies as it is everywhere. “Ye are the salt of the earth” and unless we can keep our mental and spiritual lives seasoned and made fresh by frequent contact with the source of life, of all growth, we will soon lose our savor and be good for nothing.
The words “He that loseth his life—for my sake — shall find it” are as true now as when first spoken. In this hurrying unstable, unhappy world of ours we are often forced by circumstances, by competition, by personal ambition, etc., to make ourselves the centers of our daily thoughts. We are tempted, almost compelled to measure ourselves by comparison with other men and seldom find time to measure ourselves by the standards and ideals of Christ, til gradually our lives become ego-centric, til gradually we are more and more self-conscious, til the one thing that we love so much and are so constantly anxious about, our own life, may be lost because we loved it before God. The world is cluttered up today with the remnants of such lost lives. We are to ‘judge not; and we shall not be judged’—to condemnation. It is the one who can look upon all human activity from the standpoint of understanding and pity and eagerness to help that is free from this danger of the judgment and will have that perfect love to God that casts out fear and makes us wise ‘engineers.’ Let it be true of us, “Here is the mind which hath wisdom.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One