Learning how to have the mind of Christ
Brothers and sisters: The Spirit scrutinizes everything,
even the depths of God. Among men, who knows what pertains to the man except
his spirit that is within? Similarly, no one knows what pertains to God except
the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit
who is from God, so that we may understand the things freely given us by God.
And we speak about them not with words taught by human wisdom, but with words
taught by the Spirit, describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms. Now
the natural man does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God, for to him
it is foolishness, and he cannot understand it, because it is judged
spiritually. The one who is spiritual, however, can judge everything but is not
subject to judgment by anyone. For “who has known the mind of the Lord, so as
to counsel him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
I am what you might call “a binge reader.” When I find an author I like, I read as many
books by him or her as I can find until I learn how they think. There always comes a point when I can almost
guess what they will write next, and then I stop buying their books. Why?
Well, because I have their mind, their basic message. I’ve read enough books by C. S. Lewis, Scott
Hahn, Joseph Pieper, Fulton Sheen, Thomas Aquinas and Janet Smith so that when
they “zig” I zig with them; when they “zag” I zag with them. I get to a point where I catch not only WHAT
they are saying, but WHY they are saying it.
Now, this is not the same as imitating someone or aping their language
and mannerisms. Some people say I sound
like Barak Obama. I say, how do you know
he doesn’t sound like me? Believe me,
there are some things in which Obama will “zig" and I would rather
“zag.” If you’re a binge reader, like
me, you not only learn how your favorite authors think, you begin to think like
they do.
This is
the whole reason we should read the Bible avidly and study it assiduously: so
we think like God does. St. Paul tells
the Corinthians: “For ‘who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to counsel
him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.”
Did you catch that: we have the mind of Christ. One great way to have the mind of Christ is
to read the book written by his Holy Spirit.
And if you read it regularly and religiously, when Jesus zigs, you will
zig and when he zags, you will zag.
Having someone’s mind requires more than knowledge, however, it also
demands love. The evil spirits in the
gospel knew who Jesus was, but they did not love our Lord. When Jesus zigs, the evil spirits zag. The evil spirits do not want to think like
Christ.
Who do you
think like? We’d all like to answer,
“Well, I think like Jesus, of course!”
One good test to see how your brain is wired is to ask yourself: “what
am I reading these days?” How often do I
read the Bible? Are you more interested
in reading the NYTimes, the Huffington Post, Sports Illustrated, Ducks
Unlimited, or popular bloggers like Grammar Girl or Priestdude, or comic strips
like Ziggy? As good as those are, be
careful: the more you read by a given author, the more you begin to think like
they do. I’m sorry, but Ziggy will not
help you to “zig” when Jesus “zigs.”
Today,
make a commitment to read and study the Bible.
Become a binge reader of the Bible.
Otherwise, there is no way you will have the mind of Christ. St. Jerome, who translated the Bible into
Latin, said: “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.”
Praised be
Jesus Christ!
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