And some of the scribes said to themselves, “This fellow blasphemes.” And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?" (Matthew 9:3-4)
When you meet people, when your eyes look on, what do you see? Do you see how fat they are? Do you see how poorly they are dressed? Do you judge them through their social or political status...? The mind observes and the mind too has a voice – it murmurs, it speaks, it makes statements within. What kind of statements are made as you observe?
When you see people, what goes on in your mind, what are the statements that you make within you? Even if you are alone by yourself, what kind of dialog and conversation goes on in your mind as you observe and as you think? The Lord spoke to us this Sunday that He wanted us to think about that and judge ourselves and grade ourselves! So we did, and you my friend should give it a try!
In Matthew 9, the scribes did not have to say a word yet they sinned. So sin is not just action but sin is first in the thoughts. One day the Lord told me, “your thoughts speak louder than your words.” This is in the spiritual world!
The scribes looked at Jesus who is sinless and they saw a sinner. The sinners passed judgement on the righteous one. We are not to accuse others, it is the devil’s job and that’s why he is called the Accuser of the Brethren (Revelation 12:10). The scribes judged wrongly because they were already defiled and blinded by their own sins. Sin blinds and those who live in sin cannot make sound judgments. To have deep discernment, we must get rid of sin. The Bible only allows us to judge when we are judging rightly. “Do not judge according to the appearance but judge with righteous judgment.” John 7:24
The Bible forbids us to have evil thoughts in our minds and heart because they defile us, “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, slanders. “These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.” Matthew 15:18-20
In their own sins, the scribes looked at Jesus who committed not even a single sin and when they saw him – they saw him with wrong motives and they found faults instead of the good work he was doing of healing the sick person.
We have heard and we have said it within ourselves for example, “…That person is fat! Oh, they are dressed poorly! I drive a better car than them!” Sometimes we compare and we grade ourselves better. The carnal mind is so selfish and thinks more selfishly to where it deceives to think we are more important than others; or we are best at this than others...Lord help us here! We even go further and we point at other's sins and faults even when sometimes we are wrong! So we look at people and instead of seeing their God given gifts, instead of seeing their strength, right away we see their their weakness, we see their faults and we see their sins. However, we can find good things in every human being that has been created by God. Today the Holy Spirit tells us to get rid of such rottenness from our thinking, head and minds.
So we need to be careful what our little eyes see! We need to be careful of what we hear. We need to be careful of the statements we make within ourselves about things and people. The fleshly mind is fault finding and negative, so we must get rid of it. The fleshly mind blames, is accusatory and is always pointing the finger, so we must get rid of it. God is calling us to get rid of the fleshly mind and not look at people from the flesh but from the spirit. We are not to murmur, grumble nor complain even from within ourselves; we are not to host negativity of any kind within us but we must give thanks always.
“The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! (Matthew 6:23-24)
Notice that the eye here is singular. The eye here stands for the mind. The word of God here is telling us to get rid of the negativity in our mind, so much so that when we see people we only see them through God’s eyes and see the good in them. The eye that is clear is the mind that is focused on God, that see through God’s perspective – a mind that is fully of positivity only.
“ Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:1-2)
God has thoughts about us too… God thinks about us, we who are mortal, we who are born in sin, God thinks about us and this is how God sees us… “For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the LORD, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope". So God thinks good about us.
When I met the Lord face to face, I wondered how I could be before a Holy God. Then the Lord told me that when God looks at His children, He sees Jesus in them, He sees the sinless Lamb of God in them not the sin. This is the only way we can be accepted by God – having Jesus in us. This is why it is important to receive Jesus in your heart. Without Jesus in you, the Father would only see sin and no sin would stand before a Holy God.
The Word of God is a powerful tool that God has given to cleanse us, to renew our minds and to tame our mind and our thoughts to the mind of Christ. Now is the time to bring our minds to the altar and get them saved. It is time to bring our head and brain to the altar and have them saved. From then on, it is to renew your mind and tame your mind to the mind of Christ by reading and meditating on the word of God daily. Read many chapters a day, and it is very important to practice the word of God because that’s what brings transformation. He who is transformed is the owner and is free from the carnal mind as they daily continue to follow Christ wherever He goes and continue to obey Him daily.
For more, please listen to the teaching from our Sunday Service: Is Your Mind Saved?
