Mind Games 

If you spend any time in the Scriptures you are soon made aware that the basic struggle of our spiritual formation is characterized, especially by Paul, as a battle between the sinful nature and the person we are (or should be), having been regenerated by the Spirit.  One well known example of Paul’s argument on this issue comes from Galatians 5:

 ¹⁶So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. ¹⁷For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. ¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

 ¹⁹The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. ²⁵Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. (Gal. 5:16-26-  All Scripture quotations are from the NIV)

This is the classic description of the types of behaviors and attitudes that characterize the opposing forces in this battle, and the stakes couldn’t be higher: our inheritance in the Kingdom of God.  But how do we live by the Spirit and allow the Spirit to lead us?  Or, as Paul put it, how do we “keep in step” with the Spirit?

In his epistle to the Ephesians I think that Paul addresses this issue in a practical way:

 ¹⁷So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. ¹⁸They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. ¹⁹Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

 ²⁰You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. ²¹Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. ²²You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

It seems clear to me that Paul believes that this struggle is being fought on a cognitive battlefield: that of the mind, or the way that we think.  The nature of the struggle as he sees it is one of futile ways of thinking which lead to the sorts of things that the sinful nature does (as were outlined in the Galatians passage) vs. a new attitude of your mind.  The suggestion in verse 24 that we “put off” (or lay aside) the old self implies that this is a deliberate, achievable action on our part rather than some kind of spiritual transaction by God outside of our control. This strikes me a something different then the mysterious, somewhat mystical process that is sometimes assumed. 

Perhaps the most important discussion of this comes from Romans, right at the center of Paul’s systematic theology which the first 12 chapters of that epistle represents:

²²For in my inner being I delight in God's law; ²³but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. ²⁴What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
      So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Here again, the battle is described as one of the sinful nature vs. the mind.  What immediately follows is what may be the classic passage on what it means to live according the Spirit in chapter 8.  Paul describes how the sacrifice of Jesus Christ became a sin offering for us to meet the requirements of the law to set us free.  Then he says this:

⁵Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; ⁷the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. ⁸Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

 ⁹You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. ¹⁰But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. ¹¹And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

Paul makes a direct correlation between what it is we have our “minds set” on and what it is we are controlled by: the sinful nature or the Spirit.  A key part of his conclusion and application to the systematic theology of the first 11 chapters of Romans gives a synopsis:

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Rom. 12:2a)

In Colossians Paul confirms the critical importance of where it is that we have our minds set.  The “therefore” in verse 5 clearly connects setting your minds on things above with putting to death what belongs to your earthly nature.  Also note in verses 9 and 10 that renewal of the new self is the result of increased knowledge, clearly a cognitive and volitional process. 

 ¹Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

 ⁵Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶Because of these, the wrath of God is coming⁷You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

I conclude that the essential battle of our lives; the struggle for spiritual formation between the sinful nature and the Spirit, is not something mystical and incomprehensible that is happening outside of our control between God and the devil.  I wouldn’t go so far as to state that there is not a spiritual component to it, but it appears that Paul at least believes that it is largely a matter of how we are disciplining our minds.  What are the practical implications of this for the church?

The most obvious arena is Christian education.  The church should be dedicated to a strategic, graded approach to developing followers of Christ with a Christian worldview and grasp of Scripture and doctrine which is equivalent to nothing less than what Paul describes in Ephesians 4, immediately preceding his exhortation to put off the old self by being renewed in the attitude of your mind:

…unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

 ¹⁴Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.

A simple quest for knowledge can also be, as many of us know, a “self-serving” enterprise as well.  The antidote for this is two-fold.  First of all, to keep in mind the goal of spiritual formation to help build the church, as Paul concludes: 

⁶From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

In addition, the specific application to knowledge is, of course, to teach: something that in my experience is the best possible motivation and context for continuing growth, as well as the means to keep that aspect of your life focused on others rather than yourself.  I think we should have as our goal nothing less than all Christ-followers being equipped to teach, as the writer of Hebrews notes:

In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! ¹³Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. (Heb. 5:12,13)

That does not, of course, mean that everyone will be performing primary teaching tasks in the church, but everyone should be able to instruct friends and family members (especially their children), and perhaps small groups. 

Another key component is noted by Paul in Ephesians 5 as he specifically describes how we are continually being filled by the Spirit vs. living in debauchery, one of the adjectives used to describe what living according to the sinful nature is like.  Part of the prescription for that disease is an attitude of worship.

…be filled with the Spirit. ¹⁹Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, ²⁰always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Eph. 5:18b-20)

Our worship ministries should be so much more than just creating the “set up for the sermon.”  We should be training ourselves to be people of worship in regards to how we react to each other as well as what is happening within us in the realms of our minds and hearts throughout the day.  The final suggestion by Paul as to how to be filled with the Spirit in that passage is this:

²¹Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Eph. 5:21)

This speaks of serving other people, something we do not normally associate with being led by the Spirit.  But Paul, being a good Hebrew, understood that there is not the kind of disconnect between mind and spirit and body that modern westerners assume there to be.  He reiterates this concept in the passage previously referenced from his epistle to the Galatians, specifically tying it to the battle with our sinful nature.  Taken together, these two passages very much affirm this application for our basic thesis.

¹³You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. (Gal. 5:13)

Specific and ongoing opportunities for service to others is not just outreach or getting work done in the church.  It is a key component to empowering the kind of spiritual formation that helps people gain ultimate victory in the fundamental spiritual battle of their lives. 

The one aspect of being led by the Spirit which would be the “go to” discipline for many people is prayer.  Paul does not neglect this, interestingly enough in his description of spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6:

¹⁸And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (Eph. 6:18)

I note that this is more than just a “prayer time” we have at some point during the day, but an ongoing conversational relationship with God.  No doubt this is what Paul means when he exhorts the Thessalonians to “pray continually” (1 Thess. 5:17).  This is also nothing more than simply disciplining your mind throughout the day.

Christian education, worship, ministry, spiritual disciplines.  These are standard church “programs,” but they are not just disconnected ways in which we want to help people grow.  They are intimately tied together as the means to win the basic spiritual battle of our lives, and they all center in the mind.  

As Sherlock Holmes would say, “The game is afoot,”  and in this case it is a game played upon the board of the mind.  But it is not a quija board, with pieces being moved magically about.  By our own deliberate and disciplined choices we move the pieces forward to achieve a victorious conclusion.