PEARLS OF GREAT PRICE CHRIST’S LIFE STUDIES

HAVING THE MIND OF CHRIST: SOPHRONOSIMOS_

APOSTLE GILBERT KARUZA

Sóphronismos | A Mind Untainted by Inferior Thoughts

Peace is a vital necessity for our lives. The Apostle Paul instructs us to let the peace of God govern our mind. In his epistles, he differentiates between the indicatives and the imperatives and the indicatives. He also makes a difference between what we learn and what we practice.

There is a difference between us acquiring knowledge and us experiencing knowledge. We can learn about the peace of God that we have received through Christ, but until we begin to practice His peace, it will not be a reality in our lives. As small as it may seem to be, peace is one of the major things we are practice in our lives.

God has given us His life which has completely separated us from the life of the natural mind which is essentially oriented to see things selfishly; only seeing the things that are of benefit to us. Such a mind will eventually be infested with inferior thoughts.

When your thoughts are only about “me, myself and I”, there is no way you can exceed the inferior level of life. It will cause you to be infested by negativity, walking based on instincts, and you will be reactive instead of proactive.

Our mind (Greek word, naos ) is supposed to be the holy of holies. We have the seat of God in us. He has made His abode in our naos . However, we often departmentalize our life, thinking that God is only present in our spirit and has nothing to do with our soul or our body.

When Christ was incarnate as us, He was not incarnate as spirit. He took upon Himself our bodies. This would imply He is interested in our bodies to the same extent to which He is interested in our spirit. Jesus Christ took upon Himself our souls, our fears and doubts. He had the same feelings as we do. He did not just take an aspect of our being in His incarnation, but He became 100% what we are. He assumed our totality.

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. 1 Corinthians 1:30

The Apostle Paul reveals what Christ became through His perfect works for us. The four points he mentioned in this verse present a holistic person.

01. Wisdom: Christ has been made our wisdom. He bore upon Himself our former manner of thinking and by so doing He redeemed it and gave us His own wisdom. He reversed our manner of thinking by becoming our wisdom. This is the extent to which He went in identifying with us. If Paul begins by citing wisdom, this would mean wisdom is of great importance in our walk in the flesh. Christ understood the system and knew the things that could frighten us and take away our peace. He thus became our wisdom that in the midst of circumstances and situations, we can walk through and still be whole, untainted and unlimited.

02. Righteousness: In becoming our righteousness, Jesus Christ made us of the same quality as Him, every aspect taken into consideration. He takes us from what we think we are in our present state and transfers us that we may be as people who are not affected in our manner of thinking by this sphere impacted by the fall of Adam.

03. Sanctification: This speaks about God consecrating our souls and separating our souls from that which hurts; taking us away from a secular way of life whereby we are subjected to feelings, and bringing us to a consecrated state of life. He separates our soul from whatever takes away His quality of life from us. Our sanctification equally talks about God separating our minds from that which is common (pain, doubt, fear, etc.).

04. Redemption: This speaks of Christ ministering to our body. It speaks of the separation of our body from all the effects of the fall. Let who Christ is and what He has become for you be your focus. These are major aspects in your practice of the peace of God. This is the level to which we are to understand the identification of Christ.

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Romans 8:5-6
The peace of God in you has nothing to do with the happenings of your life; it is not related to what you have. It is related to your naos. Let the practice of peace be the daily practice of your life.