THE CARNAL MIND!

THE CARNAL MIND!

Rom 8:5-7

5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

           Even the professing believer can display what Paul calls a carnal mind which is a desire and pursuit of those things that please the flesh. It is a mindset that is void of soul and spirit and even the practices of religion tend toward the comfort of the senses. A person who consistently thinks like this is often at odds with God, even though he claims to serve God. When the church body votes “yea” he casts a vote in the negative even though he can’t give a good reason. He is simply not submitted to the thoughts and ways of the God he claims to serve. A case in point is the objection of Judas at the anointing of Jesus.

John 12:1-8

12:1 Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.

2 There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.

3 Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.

4 Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him,

5 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?

6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.

7 Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.

8 For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.

           Judas, had he been in the right frame of mind, would have applauded this worshipful act but because his focus was on the value of the ointment he could not find any pleasure in the anointing. Mary, on the other hand, could only think of her Savior and his sacrifice for her. The value of the ointment, which was great, was not in her thinking. She displayed a spiritual mind; a mind in tune with the spirit.

Dear Lord, let me not consider my ointment as precious but let me pour it out in worship. AMEN