Reflections
Changing our minds
You must have heard the story of the grim-looking woman who offering a tract to a passerby, said, 'Would you like to become a Christian?' 'No thank you,' said the other person, taking a look at her sour face, ' I have enough troubles of my own'.
Why is it that so many people who claim to belong to Christ present such a gloomy image to the world? In the main they are not hypocrites for their lives have no blemish, and their characters are spotless. Yet somehow their lives are not radiant, and they fail to put a desire in the hearts of others to reach out to Christ. Somehow or other we have given the men and women of our generation the impression that to become a Christian is to carry a heavy load, dress in black and live a life that is bleached of all colour. It is true that we do not cheat, swear, get drunk, or
philander with the opposite sex- but neither do thousands of people who are not Christians.
If we claim that a Christian is someone in whom Christ lives, then why is it that we give so little evidence that He is inside us? One possible answer to this is that we have not passed through the experience of which Paul speaks in Rom.12:2. We have surrendered our wills to Christ but there has been no transformation in our minds. Our thinking has never been reshaped. The Bible says it quite plainly, by the renewing of our minds we are transformed. And how is this achieved? By giving our minds to Him, then He gives His mind to us. 'Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus... and be renewed'.
Changing our minds
You must have heard the story of the grim-looking woman who offering a tract to a passerby, said, 'Would you like to become a Christian?' 'No thank you,' said the other person, taking a look at her sour face, ' I have enough troubles of my own'.
Why is it that so many people who claim to belong to Christ present such a gloomy image to the world? In the main they are not hypocrites for their lives have no blemish, and their characters are spotless. Yet somehow their lives are not radiant, and they fail to put a desire in the hearts of others to reach out to Christ. Somehow or other we have given the men and women of our generation the impression that to become a Christian is to carry a heavy load, dress in black and live a life that is bleached of all colour. It is true that we do not cheat, swear, get drunk, or
philander with the opposite sex- but neither do thousands of people who are not Christians.
If we claim that a Christian is someone in whom Christ lives, then why is it that we give so little evidence that He is inside us? One possible answer to this is that we have not passed through the experience of which Paul speaks in Rom.12:2. We have surrendered our wills to Christ but there has been no transformation in our minds. Our thinking has never been reshaped. The Bible says it quite plainly, by the renewing of our minds we are transformed. And how is this achieved? By giving our minds to Him, then He gives His mind to us. 'Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus... and be renewed'.
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