“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus”—- Philippians 2:5 (NKJV)
Apostle Paul admonished the Christians in Philippi that their hearts, attitude and mind have to conform to that of Christ Jesus in order to become His true disciples. To have the mind of Christ means to humbly serve in every capacity in which we have been called by God, with full commitment and total submission just as Christ Jesus did.
Max Lucado, a great man of God, in his book posed this question: what would our life be like if we were to think and act like Jesus Christ for just one day. That is if Christ’s priorities govern our actions, His passions drove our daily decisions and His love directed our behaviour. He asked, would people notice any change in us? Would our schedules, engagements and appointments remain the same as they currently are or would they change?
Those are insightful questions we should daily ruminate upon.
Giving careful thoughts to the questions above, we would realise that thinking and acting like Christ would only lead to a positively transformed lives. The apostles in the book of Acts were good examples of this kind of transformation. Their lives were characterised by Christ’s principles and were first called “Christians” at Antioch because the people of Antioch could see Christ in their behaviour and attitude.
God loves us so much that He wants us to be the best He has created us to be, and this can only be possible by having the mind of Christ. This means we must daily examine our heart and check that it conforms to that of Christ. Those things that characterised the heart of Christ that must also characterise our heart include:
- PURITY:
The bible says in Luke 8:1 – 3 that various women attended to Christ’s needs during His ministry yet no one ever accused Him of lustful thoughts towards them. Peter described Him as an unblemished lamb while John said in Him there was no sin.
A pure heart is enabled by the Holy Spirit which we must allow to control our lives because he doesn’t force his control over us. Those with a pure heart towards God live a holy life marked by integrity not mixed with anything that dilute their devotion to God. The bible says in Matthew 5 that those that have a pure hear are blessed and will see God.
- PEACE:
In Luke 8:22-25, Jesus Christ peacefully slept through the Storm while His disciples were dreadfully afraid of dying in the storm.
His heart was peaceful even when He was severely maltreated during the trial before His crucifixion. While one of His disciples cut the ear of the servant of the high priest who came to arrest him, He raised His hand and heal the servant’s ear (Luke 22: 47-51).
- COMPASSION:
The bible says in Matt. 9:36 that Jesus was moved with compassion when He saw the multitude. Christ’s concern for a hurting world revealed itself in two ways: (a) Condemnation towards those who took advantage of others and (b) Compassion towards those who could not help themselves.
At one time, He made a whip and used it to drive out money changers from the temple, and at other times He healed many that were sick. It will be difficult to have a compassionate heart if what drives and moves us in life are our personal ambitions and goals. Hence, without genuine compassion evangelism will be a real struggle and would in fact only be a product of the flesh.
- PURPOSE:
In Luke 19:10, Christ could summarize His life in one sentence: the son of man came to seek out and save the lost. He was so focussed that He knew when to say His time has not yet come and when to say on the cross that His task was finished.
Every creation of God has a purpose in life. In the least, as Christians, we have been commissioned and called to preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15), and to make disciples of every nation (Matt 28:19). Hence, this should form part of our daily schedules otherwise we will be missing the real purpose of our existence.
In conclusion, it is important to note that the relationship Jesus had with His Father is a prototype of the relationship God intended for us to have with Him. Christ did not do anything without the Father’s knowledge and consent. God’s desire for us, and as Paul admonished the Philippian Christians, is to emulate Jesus Christ and become more like Him. This is the only way we can demonstrate that we are true disciples of Christ.