The Renewal of the Christian MindRoy Hershberger “With his mind renewed, the child of God may marvel at its power. He is emancipated from sluggish, and Non-essential activities. His ability to concentrate becomes much sharper, his understanding more perceptive, his memory more alert, his reasoning more explicit, and his outlook less confined. He works more effectively, thinks more comprehensively, and grasps the thought of others more easily. In addition, he receives spiritual knowledge with an open mind because he is now free from the language of his own petty experience and released into the boundless world of spiritual knowledge. Every prejudice and preconceived notion towards God's work are removed, enabling his mind to undertake the work which before was impossible and to bear responsibility two or three times that which he formerly could bear.” [Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man(Christian Fellowship Publishers, Inc., New York, 1977), section 8, p. 62.] This is perhaps one of my favorite quotes of Watchman Nee because it speaks to a great need among modern American Christians. In The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind Mark Noll confirms this need among evangelicals in particular by stating: “The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind...American evangelicals are not exemplary for their thinking, and they have not been so for several generations.” * Noll finds this curious because the roots of evangelicalism possessed a strong devotion to intellectual pursuits. (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan, Inter-Varsity Press, Leicester, England, 1995) p. 3 My own personal theory on this phenomenon is that the modern “Christian” mind has become so cluttered with wrong ideas of a legalistic and traditionalistic nature that it is unable to expand itself beyond the narrow limits these ideas allow. In a nutshell, those who confess to be followers of Jesus Christ are in a dire need to undergo the type of mind renewal that Mr. Nee speaks of in the above quote. We must find freedom from “every prejudice and preconceived notion” see beyond “the language of [our] own petty experience[s] and released into the boundless world of spiritual knowledge”. Far to many so called “Christians” are confined within the parameters of what has become the “Christian” Religion, (in one sectarian form or another) when Jesus Christ's actual purpose was to free us from all humanly conceived concepts of “truth” and bring our minds out of the fantasy world. Human nature tends to seek out distortions of reality - it endlessly engages itself in the vain enterprise of creating a belief system that will justify its selfish desires. (i.e. the worlds religions and philosophies, including what many people think of as non-religious ideas like Naturalism, Atheism, etc.)
“Renewing our minds” is a must if we expect to be released from an incomplete and/or distorted view of reality. It is a process by which our subconscious minds are brought into alignment with Truth. This is not an easy, short, or simple development for most people in our modern society, but it will come to all those who seek it. Such renewal can only occur when we surrender our minds to the work of the Holy Spirit, not in a passive way, but instead asserting our will to understand and obey God's will. In addition, acknowledging our own human weakness and inability to discover wisdom on our own, realizing that we must first surrender to Gods purpose before true enlightenment and revelation can come. [Chapter 6 - Religiosity] The key word here is “seek”. If we are unwilling to acknowledge that some of our thinking may be screwed up, and unwilling to part with any comfortable and/or “stabilizing” religious (traditional and non-traditional) ideas then we are not interesting in having our minds renewed. Granted such seeking can be a painfull and discomforting experience. But isn't this a small price to pay for discovering a mind that is free to be all God meant it to be? All content on gel |
