No Change in Direction

“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus” Philippians 2:5

Have this attitude – You just got cheated! I don’t know how “attitude” ended up in this verse (it’s the same in the NIV), but it certainly isn’t close to the use of this Greek word in its occurrences in the Classics, the Septuagint or the New Testament. Phroneistho isn’t about my emotional state, it’s about how I think! The King James got it right with “Have this mind in you”. Forget attitude. Think like Jesus! Attitude is the result of right thinking, not the source of right thinking.

What kind of thinking do I have to have if I am going to think like Jesus? It seems to me that Paul is just expressing God’s unchanging worldview. I have to think about things just like God has always thought about things. I have to think in terms of one for many, forgiveness, sacrificial love, redemption, hatred for sin, compassion and community. Notice that Paul says we are all to have this same kind of thinking. It’s the group mindset of believers that matters.

We know that God wants community. Our struggle is not with the idea but rather with the practice. People in community get hurt. So we shy away. But God has the answer, revealed in Paul’s letter. God hasn’t changed direction. It’s still about all of us together. The answer is to change how we think so that we take on the same worldview as Jesus. In fact, that is the answer to every issue in life. Jesus is the paradigm, the role model, the standard bearer, the captain, the first fruit, the perfect representative, the final goal. Get Jesus in your head. See through his eyes. Things will happen. God guarantees it.

Here’s the practical test of this mental maneuver. The next time you walk into a room of people, will they see you entering or will they see the Master cleverly disguised in your body? Be a Christian schizophrenic. Take on another personality. Become Jesus. Oh how the world will change!