Proverbs 28:26. Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.
Each and every one of us naturally trust our own mind. As social psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s bestselling book, The Righteous Mind, tells us, we all believe that we are the righteous one. We think that the way we think is the best way to think. This is why the world is full of so many arguments. Everyone’s mind tells them that they are the only one with the truth.
But the Bible says that thinking this way makes you a fool. Why? Because what we all need to understand is that we don’t know everything. Often what we believe are facts are actually just half-truths or opinions. Too often we start with what we want to be true, then find the “facts” that will make it true. This is just another way that we self-justify.
This is not to say that there is no truth to be known. To be sure there is such a thing as absolute truth. We have been warned throughout Proverbs to never lean on our own understanding, but rather to trust in the Lord with all our heart (3:5). The Lord IS truth. And the Lord is knowable through Jesus the Truth, and the Spirit of Truth. The problem is not a lack of truth, the problem lies within, in our own minds. Not only is the mind a battle ground between truth and lies, but between the even more powerful forces of Spirit and flesh. Life and death. Look at how Paul describes this ongoing battle in his own mind:
Romans 7:23. but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
The solution? Mind renewal. The ongoing battle must be fought with ongoing, moment by moment, mind renewal that allows the Spirit to take over the mind with the truth of the gospel of grace. Do you remember Ephesians 4:17-24 from a couple days ago? Let’s look at it again:
Ephesians 4:17-24. 17Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
What is the spirit of my mind, you ask? It is the mind that is controlled by the Holy Spirit. It is, as Proverbs would say, the fear of the Lord and trusting the Lord with all of your heart. It is walking in wisdom, the wisdom of Jesus and his foolish cross. This means boldly holding fast to the truths of the gospel, while humbly admitting that your mind, your thinking, is constantly in need of renewal and therefore your thoughts and opinions are not the source of your righteousness, Christ in you is.
To be renewed in the Spirit of the mind is to no longer trust your own mind like a fool, but to trust the Spirit who can renew your mind with his love and grace.
You: How much of your righteousness is rooted in your own mind and opinions?
You in Christ: How does our union with the Spirit actually change how we think?
Christ in you: Where do you need to replace your “righteous mind” with the righteousness of Jesus?
Pray: Father, may your Spirit renew my mind in the gospel each and every day. I submit my mind to you. Amen.
To Live is Christ 