Thought for the Month

"Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity (love).For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Pet.1:5‑8)

The brain is the most important part of the human body. It controls all of the activities in the body. The Oxford Dictionary defines the brain as a "convoluted mass of nervous tissue contained in skull, controlling processes of sensation, learning, and memory." But the word "brain" will not be found in a Bible concordance. The word "mind" is.

The mind is defined as the "seat of consciousness, thought, volition, and feeling; intellectual powers; memory; opinion." It is the place where our thoughts, words and actions are sourced and controlled. It is where our character is developed and refined that it may be conformed to the mind of Christ.

Faith is the bedrock of the Christian’s life. Without it we would not have this life as a new creature in Christ Jesus. But this is not the moment to relax and get on with every‑day life. It is a beginning to which we should add virtue (Greek arete) or fortitude as it is defined in modern translations as it strengthens the Christian to withstand trials. To that is added knowledge. Knowledge has many branches especially knowledge of the Bible as well as other knowledge like geography and history and so on. Temperance or self‑control are very important in the life of the Christian if we are to leave behind the standards of the world and reach for the standards in the Bible especially the New Testament. Otherwise we would be out of control which can lead to reckless words and actions. To that the Christian must add patience or patient‑endurance as we deal with the experiences we have over the years of our walk. To that we must add godliness or piety. Our thoughts must be evermore heavenward rather than earthly. More in line with God’s attributes especially wisdom and love. Then we must add brotherly‑kindness; kindly in our words and actions as if they were a brother or sister. Without kindness in our words and actions we would lean towards cruelty. Finally we must add agape love.

These speak of the transformation which Paul addresses in Romans 12:2 "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."

"What would Jesus do?" is a question to ask ourselves when considering what to do and say. We could even reverse the question to say what would Jesus not do?