Jesus and John the Baptist preached to the men to repent because the kingdom of God is at hand. Actually, repenting means changing your mindset. Why should we change our mindset? The bible says we have sin in us and all of our thoughts are impure.
We cannot meet God without changing our mindset. When we repent and find ourselves a new creation and experience the new life, we become what God thinks and we realize our old thoughts are useless.
Every disciple of Jesus Christ changes their thought and accepted the words of Jesus which made them unique in the eyes of the Lord. Now we should also think differently in order to know what God is going to give us in the days to come.
The benefits of changing our ways of thinking can be learned more with the help of the following scriptures.
Ephesians 4:23(KJV) “And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;”
The spirit of God starts working in us when we decide to enjoy the life that God has made for us. We renew our minds with the word of God and found how great is our God.
Colossians 3:2(KJV) “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”
Though we are living on this earth yet we have to set our minds on the things above. We can do so by changing our mindset. We cannot live a Christian life by holding the previous sinful mind.
Philippians 2:2(KJV) “Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.”
Our lives without Jesus are known to all of us. But when we receive him we think in one accord and we do what the Church leads us to do. This only happens by changing our thoughts.
Romans 1:28(KJV) “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;”
God confuses people who deny to accept him as their Lord. Their thoughts and works are against the Lord. They get a mind which destroys them at last.
Romans 8:5(KJV) “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.”
We are asked to give our minds to the spirit and we shall be rewarded. But if we reject it and run after the things of this world then we shall lose our life and see the death finally.
Romans 8:7(KJV) “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”
The mind that we have is always against the law of God. So we need to change our wishes and desires in order to win this world. The Lord is always ready to open the door of his blessings and we can only get that by changing our minds.
1 Peter 1:13(KJV) “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;”
Satan is always seeking to attack our minds and he knows the tricks very well. Here, we must know that we can also fall into the trap of Satan. So, we have to think the way God’s people think and for that, we need to change our minds first.
1 Corinthians 1:10(KJV) “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”
We the believers should have the same mind and it will help us to praise and worship the Lord properly. If we have different thoughts then we will never have unity and Satan will attack and destroy us.
Philippians 2:5(KJV) “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”
In every step of our lives, we need to follow Jesus. We cannot be successful in our life until we view the world and its things as Jesus viewed it.
Mark 8:33(KJV) “But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.”
Our human perspective is not valuable before the will of God. We must accept God’s plan and allow ourselves to act according to it. Only then we will know how God works in our lives.
1 Corinthians 2:16(KJV) “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.”
The disciples of Jesus had the same mind and they immediately left their profession when they were being called by Jesus. They knew that this worldly mind is unable to save our lives from reaching heaven.
Matthew 18:3(KJV) “And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
To enter into heaven we must have the mind of a child. Here it means we should not hold any mistakes of others and the way a child thinks we should also think. That is why Jesus says to have the mind of a child.
1 Timothy 6:5(KJV) “Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.”
Christians should maintain a spiritual difference from the people of other faith. The reason is that they might not corrupt our thought.
Philippians 2:3(KJV) “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.”
Let us love each other and build a firm relationship with Jesus. We all are brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus so we have the same mind to form a wealthy relationship among ourselves.
Romans 12:2(KJV) “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Philippians 4:8(KJV) “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
We are to follow Jesus by obeying his words which are important for our spiritual life. The word of God warns us to abstain from all kinds of evil practices so that we can remain holy and pure from sin.
Philippians 4:6-7(KJV) “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Life without Jesus is full of worries and headaches but our faith in him changes our minds. We rely on his strength and enjoy our earthly life.
2 Corinthians 10:5(KJV) “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”
No other thought except Christ should rule in us. We are to stand before him and now we are preparing to meet him by changing our carnal minds to godly minds.
