“I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.” Psalm 139:14
The human mind is one of the greatest marvels of God’s design. It stores memories, reasons through problems, imagines the future, and composes beauty in music, art, and literature. By controlling it, people have designed cities, built empires, and launched spacecraft into the heavens. And yet, the same mind can also plunge into darkness—embracing lies, violence, idolatry, and unspeakable evil against fellow humans, rebelling against its Maker.
The medical field loosely describes the mind as the element or complex of elements in an individual that feels, perceives, thinks, wills, and especially reasons. In simple terms, it is the seat of thought, memory, imagination, judgment, and emotion. Science recognizes the incredible complexity of the mind, but Scripture goes further—showing us that the mind is not just a physical process tied to the brain. It is the inner faculty God gave us to reason, choose, worship, and relate to Him.
The psalmist praises God because we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” Thus, our mind is not an accident of evolution. It is a purposeful design that reflects God’s image. Through our mind, we create, imagine, remember, decide, and commune with God Himself. But Scripture also teaches us that our ability to maximize the use of our mind depends on whether a person has been born again.
Scripture explains that every person has the capability to think with one of two minds:
- The natural mind, which is the sole mind utilized by the unsaved, and very often is the chosen mind utilized by those who have been born again. The unbeliever may be brilliant and creative, but without the Spirit of God, our natural mind cannot comprehend His truth. In fact, even a saved person, who has the capability to use their spiritual mind (the mind of Christ) may choose to be dominated by their natural mind.
“The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:14
The unbeliever’s spirit is dead to God. (Ephesians 2:1) Though they can reason, plan, and achieve, their mind cannot grasp or submit to God’s truth. They live only with the mind of the flesh, driven by pride, lust, fear, and the world’s wisdom. The natural mind is vulnerable to blindness and deception.
- The spiritual mind may only be utilized by the born again believer. By contrast, the believer has been made alive in Christ:
“But God… even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.” Ephesians 2:4–5
At salvation, God breathes life into our spirit and reconciles us to Himself. When a person is born again, God’s Spirit gives life to their dead spirit. God places His spiritual genetics in the believer’s soul and spirit. Now, empowered by the indwelling Spirit, the believer has the ability to think with the mind of Christ. His Spirit makes our spirit alive, so we can communicate with God, and we have the ability to engage in His thoughts through grasping His Word through the understanding we are given in His Spirit.
Paul draws the sharp line regarding how different our life becomes based on which mind we choose to utilize:
“To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Romans 8:6
I often use a teaching analogy based upon a young woman I met who had recently been born again but described her mind as “an endless loop of what-ifs.” Though successful by the world’s standards, her thoughts were bound by fear of rejection and failure. When she gave her life to Christ, her spiritual genetics changed. Her inner man (soul and spirit) desired what God desired. So, as she began watching, listening, and reading content that was in line with Scripture, this content began to create a new output—peace—instead of anxiety. She told me, “It feels like I finally got a new operating system (OS) installed. The old one was crashing my life every day. Now it’s stable and strong.”
This is an excellent analogy to help us understand our mind. According to Scripture, we have one of two operating systems.
- The unbeliever runs on the default “flesh OS”—capable of brilliance, but corrupted, unable to process God’s truth. Our soul and spirit are spiritually disconnected from God, and thus our OS is incapable of communicating with Him.
- The believer receives a new “Jesus OS” at salvation. The Bible calls this “the mind of Christ.” At salvation, our soul and Spirit are made alive and reprogrammed with the mind of Jesus. Thus, we have the ability to retrain our carnal mind to think differently. The believer can think and live according to God’s brilliant truth.
When we are born again, our soul and spirit receive a spiritual overwrite—a complete replacement with the OS of God. This Jesus OS allows us to begin the process of upgrading our carnal mind. Keep in mind, the old hardware is still there—but the more we upgrade it with our new OS, the less it operates under the old OS.
But if our soul and spirit are not born again, our carnal mind remains limited and blind. Our mind was created for so much more than we can imagine! The Bible paints vivid portraits of the different kinds of minds—good and bad:
- A ready mind: “The people had a mind to work.” (Nehemiah 4:6) A determined, united mindset led to rebuilding the wall.
- A double mind: “A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:8) A divided mind wavers between faith and doubt.
- A deceived mind: Acts 5:1–11 shows Ananias and Sapphira’s minds corrupted by lies, leading to their death.
- A restored mind: The man healed by Jesus in Mark 5:15 was found “clothed and in his right mind.” Christ restores what Satan has shattered.
- A blind mind: “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers.” (2 Corinthians 4:4) The natural mind cannot see truth without Christ.
- A humble mind: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5) Believers are called to humility in thought and action.
- A peaceful mind: “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You.” (Isaiah 26:3) When fixed on God, the mind is anchored in peace.
While unbelievers are trapped in blindness or deception, believers are called to live with a ready, humble, and peaceful mind shaped by Christ. The Bible reveals that this amazing gift of the mind of Christ takes our thinking to levels of knowledge and peace far, far beyond what we can experience with the natural mind. The Bible plainly says:
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. Isaiah 55:8–9
“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” Romans 11:33–34
God’s mind is higher, wiser, and filled with peace. And through His Spirit, He shares His way of thinking with those who belong to Him. Tomorrow, we are going to examine how to take control of our mind so we can think with the glorious mind of Christ.
Challenge Questions
- Do you see more evidence in your life that you are using more of your natural mind or your spiritual mind?
- How does knowing you have the “mind of Christ” change the way you may approach struggles, decisions, or doubts?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for creating my mind with such wonder and complexity. Thank You for making me alive in Christ, giving me the ability to think with a spiritual mind instead of only the flesh. Forgive me for the times I have allowed my thoughts to drift into fear, pride, or deception. Teach me to anchor my mind in You and to reflect the mind of Christ. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
