“Mind you…” is a Welsh expression, often used as a warning to be careful, as in “Mind your head!” But it was the disciple Peter’s mind more than his head on one occasion that needed minding. Peter was shocked when Jesus spoke of his soon coming death in Jerusalem. He had no idea that his Master was destined to die as the sacrificial Lamb of God and rise three days later from death as The Lion of the Tribe of Judah.
Our Lord taught that you and I must “lose our life to save it.” Not physically (unless martyred), but ‘die’ to our own will. Jesus would not allow Peter’s well-meaning but humanistic protest to prevent him from fulfilling the redemptive purpose for which he had been born (Matthew 16:25).
Likewise, we can be reluctant to let go of natural family ties to strengthen those that are spiritual (Matthew 10:37). We need to let go of what we seek in this world if we desire to gain everlasting life. We need to forsake the wisdom of this world for the wisdom of God, which was best displayed in the crucifixion of Jesus on the Cross.
“It doesn’t make sense”, some say, and they’re right in terms of worldly wisdom (Greek: “sophia”, i.e. sophisticated wisdom). But it makes sense when we have “the mind of Christ”, i.e. when we think the same way that Jesus did. (Think, for a moment, of those who sacrificed themselves in WW2 by dying in battle to save their loved ones, their nation — perhaps even the world — from tyranny.)
It’s hard to let go of all we know! For example, to stop seeing ourselves as who we were to see ourselves as we are in Christ! Not as sinners but as sinners saved by the grace of God (2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verses 16 &17)
Nor is it easy to let go of the known language of the mind for the unknown language of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:14). It was hard for the imprisoned John the Baptist to put aside his preconceived idea of the Messiah. He sent some followers to ask Jesus: “Are you the Christ, or should we look for another?”
When God opens the spiritual door of revelation, we must close the door of knowledge gained over years of spiritual ignorance. There’s a place for the natural mind, of course, but the spirit of it — the software in the brain’s hard drive, if you will — needs to be renewed so that it affirms rather than questions the Word of God (Ephesians 4:23).
Renew your mind in Paul’s letters of Ephesians and Colossians, until it becomes “the mind of Christ” — i.e. until you think the same way Jesus did — as described in Philippians, chapter 2, verses 2, 3 & 5. When you do, you’ll see things as Jesus does, differently!