Freedom in Christ Week 3

Who's The Boss?

In Romans 8:6, the Apostle Paul writes, “So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.”

Then, in verses 11-12, he continues by saying, “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you…Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.”

These profound words, when understood in the context of the entirety of Scripture, have been revealing for 2000+ years the amazing reality that it is possible to have freedom from our chaotic, confused, ruminating, anxious, limited, wounded, sin-bent, shame-laden selves - or as Paul puts it, our sinful natures. Which, according to neuroscience, are the lies and unhealthy patterns our brains (flesh) have wired up.

Here’s another way to say this:

We don’t have to do anything our brains tell us to do if we don’t want to!

But how in the world does that even work? Talking like this makes it sound like there’s another part of our "sense of self" that somehow "thinks" apart from our brains. Which is confusing. Because doesn't the brain create what we call our “minds” – or the thinking part of us? 

According to Dr. Lee Warren, a practicing neurosurgeon who has studied the brain for 20+ years, the answer is “No.” He teaches through various podcasts and writings that based on what can be observed through more recent Brain Scan Technology (specifically, the fMRI), neuroscientists no longer believe that every thought a person has is produced by mere physical parts of the brain.  Experiments using this technology reveal that humans have a “thinking,” or, as Scripture describes, a spiritual part of us that our physical brains do not initiate, but rather, react to. This part of us is what we refer to as the “mind,” and it is the boss of the brain. Not the other way around.

Here’s how it works. Our thoughts (minds) are influenced by things we hear from other people, the voice of the Holy Spirit, demonic activity, things that happen to our bodies, and behavioral patterns our physical brains have already wired up. Our brains, in turn, pay attention to the thoughts our minds repeat the most and, in order to simplify our lives, automate these things so they become our wired-up, default behaviors and responses.

This is what Luke 6:45 is describing when it says “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.” NIV

But because of the way God has designed us, we never have to feel stuck obeying anything unhealthy or sinful “stored up in our hearts” (brain wiring) no matter where it came from or how long it’s been a part of our story.

Here’s why.

Our minds have the fascinating ability to “think about what we are thinking about.”  They can recognize thought patterns and genetic dispositions, discern the things our brains have wired up to be our default responses, and choose to replace any of these things with whatever we want.

Knowing all of this helps us better understand Bible verses like the following about what happens when we choose to let the Holy Spirit control our minds:

“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Galatians 5:16 NIV

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”  Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” Romans 12:2

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” Philippians 4:6-8 NLT

“You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” Isaiah 26:3

When the Spirit is what we keep choosing to fill our minds with, our brains (flesh) are designed by God to literally have to obey. And the Bible describes a brain under the influence of a mind controlled by the Holy Spirit as "loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled." (From Galatians 5:22-23)

Romans 8:6 and Malachi 2:5 summarize a life lived this way as “life and peace.”

Jesus calls it the "abundant life" in John 10:10.  

All we have to do to experience it is to daily choose who our boss will be…

“Choose this day whom you will serve.”  From Joshua 24:15 ESV