THE MIND OF CHRIST PRINCIPLE

FOR DECISION MAKING

Making major decisions can be very stressful.  We each develop our own strategy for making such choices through the years.  Some strategies are more successful than others.  When I was in the midst of a period of many such decisions, a very wise man, Dr. William Bright, shared with a group of us a strategy that he discovered in 1 Corinthians 2:16.  He called it “The Mind Of Christ Principle”.  It has proven to be very useful over the decades, so I am passing it along to you.  The verse concludes, “But we have the mind of Christ”.  Paul is telling the folks in the Corinthian church the importance of the Holy Spirit living in us.  A job of the Spirit is to aid us in understanding God’s truths.  In fact, verse 14 says, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned”.  But, if we do have the Spirit, then we can know the mind of Christ as believers in Him.

Here is how the strategy works.  Let say you are making a decision about schooling, occupation, relationships, housing, finances, habits, etc..  List all the options across the top of a piece of paper.  Under each option put a (+) and a (-).  Then consider how Christ would rate the option.  What would He say in favor of that option?  Write down those thoughts under the (+) column.  What would He say against the option?  Write down those thoughts under the (-) column.  Repeat the process for each option.  When done with all the options, review the page and the best decision should be much more apparent.

The key is to ignore your preferences and look at each option as Christ would view the situation.  In other words, look at the options through the “mind of Christ”.  See them as He would, not as you do.

There are two important prerequisites to beginning such a strategy.  First, you need to have learned as much about Jesus as possible.  You can’t know how He would react until you know Him.  Study the Gospels and concentrate on what Jesus did, said, and His attitudes.  Get to know Him as well as you can.  You can always learn more.  If you feel you lack sufficient knowledge about Him, ask someone who is more spiritually and Biblically mature to help you.  Paul makes the second prerequisite very clear.  We have to have the Spirit inside of us.  In other words, we must be born spiritually.  The Bible is clear how that is possible.  First, we need respond to the Spirit’s conviction by turning from our sin (repenting).  Admit our sin (confess).  Accept God’s forgiveness and Christ’s entrance into our lives (belief).  Let God’s Spirit rule in our hearts daily (mature).

Once the Spirit of God is in us, we can apply the “Mind of Christ” strategy for making the best possible decisions.