WBS.289
RIGHT
THINKING - 2
Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of IAUE, that ye present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto IAUE, which is your reasonable service.
2 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 IAUE.
Understanding that as
disciples of Yahushua we actually have the spirit of Yahushua dwelling within
our bodies, animating the life of our body (see last post), we understand why
it is our reasonable service to offer our body to him. It is “right thinking” to consider as
reasonable that we should allow our Master to live through us as he pleases. It
is “right thinking” for us to get out of his way by putting an end to our
persistence in living our lives as we please.
Matthew 6:24
No man
can serve two masters: for either he
will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and
despise the other. Ye cannot serve Elohim
and mammon.
It is interesting that
this verse appears to contrast Elohim and mammon as the only options to be our
master. It is also interesting to note that “mammon”
was transliterated and not translated from the Greek manuscripts. The Greek word used here is “mamonas.” This was not an English word at the time of
the English translation of the Scriptures.(Have you ever heard anyone use this
word in a sentence who was not referencing this verse?) Some contemporary English translations of the
Scripture render this word as riches, money, wealth and possessions. It literally means “treasure” in the sense of the
thing(s) in which you place your trust.
Following are the verses that precede this one, which will give us a
better context for understanding the meaning and role of these two masters.
Matthew 6:19 Lay not up for
yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and
where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also.
22 The light of the body is
the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of
light.
23 But if thine eye be
evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is
in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
We are instructed not
to “lay up” “treasures”
on earth. This is literally, “Do not
accumulate valuables in repositories on earth,” for they can be taken away from
you by thieves. Valuables accumulated in
heaven cannot be depreciated nor are they accessible to thieves that they might
be stolen from you. More importantly,
the place where you keep your repository of valuables is where your affections
will be.
Then this passage says
something quite intriguing. “The light of the body
is the eye.” A “single eye” is one that allows the light within
man’s spirit to be seen; and it is manifested by giving generously. If a person’s
eye is dark, he has cut off the light within his spirit (if there is any) from
being seen by others, from helping others; because his own needs and success
are regarded as more important to him.
He is stingy because his treasure is here on earth; and the more he
gives away, the less he has left for himself.
You may be wondering
why I have gone on what appears to be a long “rabbit trail,” discussing this
issue of mammon; but this passage lays out a clear presentation of right and
wrong thinking, showing the consequences of each.
As disciples of
Yahushua, the light of the world is residing within us. To the degree that our heart, our affections,
are seated in all that he is to us, his light will shine through our lives to
others. As long as we are still clinging
to things in this world that we hold dear, that we trust in, rely on, cling to…we
block the spirit of Yahushua from manifesting his glorious life through us to
others. We have chosen a different
master after all has been said and done.
Wrong thinking has taken over our minds, and we have ceased
abiding in the vine. We become dried up and good for nothing but to be gathered together and cast into the fire (John 15).
abiding in the vine. We become dried up and good for nothing but to be gathered together and cast into the fire (John 15).
2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the
Master, are changed into the same image from glory
to glory, even as by the Spirit of IAUE.
Paul explains to the
Corinthian disciples that when a person turns his heart to Yahushua Messiah,
when he affections are turned from this world to the Master, reading the
Scriptures will be like looking into a mirror to reflect back to us the nature
and character and attributes of the spirit of Yahushua that is within us; and
it will change us outwardly to become more and more like him.
When Philip asked
Yahushua to show him the Father, Messiah answered him, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” Then he continues on to explain that the
Father was in him, and he was in the Father.
Messiah offered his body a living sacrifice to IAUE long before he
rendered his body a physical sacrifice for the sins of man. Consequently, there was no hindrance to the
Father who was living inside of him from being demonstrated in the physical life
of Yahushua. (John 14:7-12) A few
chapters later (John 17), Yahushua prays for us to experience that exact same
unity that he has with the Father…him in us, and the Father in him…that we
might be one. This is the heritage of
the saints in light…but it is a heritage that can never manifest if we are
still serving two masters. “Right
thinking” understands this.
That brings us,
finally, to our second verse.
Romans 12:2 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 IAUE.
The simplest way of
expressing this verse within the context of our study would be: STOP being like the world. Learn “right thinking” so the spirit of
Yahushua within you can live freely through your body.
So important was this
concept to the wisest man who ever lived that Solomon twice said:
Proverbs 14:12, 16:25
There is a way that seemeth right unto a
man; but the end thereof are the ways of death.
We must have an anchor
to that which we hold to be truth. The
world’s truths change from generation to generation and from culture to
culture. Untold thousands through the ages
have invested in things and have laid up in store things which the next
generation or even the next modification of culture or change in technology no
longer valued at all; or which others dispossessed from them through theft,
fraud or other means. The world
currently holds nothing of value except the souls of men. The moment we realize this, the less
difficult it will be to relinquish our grasp on our own life and release
ourselves into the trustworthy care of the spirit of the Master Yahushua living
within us.
The problem is, for
the most part we have no idea where our thinking is getting in the way of our
Master living his life through us. That is why we need to be regularly reading
the Scriptures, speaking to the Father and listening to His Spirit…all with a
sense of urgency to remove all obstacles to the glory that is within us. Notice how Paul puts it: “that we might prove
what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of Elohim.”
I have heard some use
this verse to suggest that there are three levels to the will of IAUE. What Paul is telling us is that the will of
IAUE is good, acceptable and perfect; and that understanding it should be an urgent
objective in the life of the disciple.
There isn’t a half-way-to-perfect, “good”
will of IAUE. We either do His will or
we fail to do His will. The word “acceptable”
in this verse means “well pleasing.”
Paul is explaining how doing the will of IAUE is seen by Him, not by
us. To IAUE, doing His will is good to
Him, well-pleasing to Him, and perfect…the fullness of what He desires from His
children.
Right thinking will align
us to desiring to know IAUE’s will in order to allow him who died for us to
live through us. Some people have
expressed, “Well doesn’t this make me little more than a zombie? I am alive, but I am not living. Someone else is living in my body.” The short answer to this question is, “No!” This is a participation. We are being changed from glory to glory as
we learn to more effortlessly allow Messiah’s life to be manifest through our
own life. Yahushua asks us to take up
our cross every single day. We make this
choice every day because He has become our treasure; and experiencing his life
working through us is the grandest experience available to man on earth!
2 Corinthians 4:6 For IAUE, who commanded the light to shine
out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of IAUE in the face of Yahushua Messiah.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the
power may be of IAUE, and not of us.
We cannot think
rightly as long as we are still being programmed by this world. We cannot successfully become the light of
the world while our thinking suppresses his light within us. We must choose this day and every day whom we
will serve and not back down from our choice.
The Master is still on a mission to save lives. He has not placed his
spirit within us in order to know what it feels like to earn a million dollars,
go to Disneyland, ride on jet skis, climb Mt. Everest, etc. He had the opportunity to gain the whole
world, but he turned it down. He
relinquished his rights to all things in order to do the will of his Father. He is no longer here in person; but we are;
and he wants to continue doing his Father’s will in us and through us and by
us. The only way he can accomplish that
is if we possess and act upon right thinking.
