Seeing Jesus - Mind (Eliminate Worthless)

	Jesus has the hands of a carpenter, a fisherman, a physician, a farmer, a teacher and a parent.  They reach down in love, out in support and up in praise.  His eyes look backward for lessons from the past.  They look forward with determination. They always look with love.  Certain things never come from His mouth.  However, He always speaks up when the situation calls for it.  At all times, His words are those of God.  The feet of Jesus are often tired.  But this does not stop Him as he pursues His critical mission.  These feet are willing to step forward and stand firm.  They are powerful.  And they are beautiful.
	It is of major importance that we comprehend and develop in ourselves the mind of Christ.  This requires that we eliminate certain negative elements from our minds.  These include things which are bad, as well as those which are misinformed.  In addition, we must remove from our minds those thoughts and ideas which are worthless.  Let's face it...much of our mental energy is wasted on things which are good for nothing.
	Some thoughts are useless because they result from vanity.
	"Therefore," Paul urges in Colossians 2:16-19, "let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day-- things which are a {mere} shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.  Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on { visions} he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God."
	Sadly, the religious world is cluttered with the results of the very things condemned in this passage.  Paul says that some of us are "inflated without cause by our fleshly minds."  Some thoughts are good for nothing because they come from vanity.
	"Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes," Paul points out in 1 Corinthians 4:6-7, "that in us you might learn not to exceed what is written, in order that no one of you might become arrogant in behalf of one against the other.  For who regards you as superior? And what do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?"
	How can it happen that minds are influenced by vain...and therefore useless...thoughts?  It happens when we go beyond the Word of God.  It happens when we start to search our own minds for religious ideas.  Vanity leads to thoughts which are worthless.  We should add here that this does not mean that it is vanity to take a stand concerning biblical teaching.  It is human tradition, and not biblical tradition, which is vain.
	"Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites," Jesus states in Mark 7:6-9, "as it is written, 'This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.' Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.  You nicely set aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition." 
	"Now I praise you because you remember me in everything," Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 11:2, "and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you."
	There are scriptural traditions and there are human traditions.  Human traditions are vain and puffed up.  They are worthless, and we must remove them from our minds if we are to develop the mind of Christ.
	Vanity is sometimes associated with another source of worthless thoughts.  Some of the things in our minds come from disputes.
	"If anyone advocates a different doctrine," we read in 1 Timothy 6:3-5, "and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited {and} understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain."
	Some worthless thoughts and ideas result from disputes.
	"This is a trustworthy statement;" Paul observes in Titus 3:8-11, "and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God may be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men. But shun foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law; for they are unprofitable and worthless.  Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned."
	Once again, we must point out that this does not mean we should not stand up for biblical principles.
	"This testimony is true," Paul writes in Titus 1:13-14. "For this cause reprove them severely that they may be sound in the faith, not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth."
	If we are to develop the mind of Christ, we must remove worthless thoughts from our own minds.  Though we must stand up for that which is right, we must eliminate that which comes from vanity.  We must oust that which is the result of disputes.

	We really have no choice.  It is a matter of spiritual life and death.  We must develop the mind of Christ.  In order to do this, we must eradicate from our own minds thoughts and ideas which result from vanity or disputing and are, therefore, useless.
	There is still another source of worthless ideas.  We all get tired.  We all feel worn out.  Our society has even coined a term to describe this condition.  It is referred to as "burn-out." When we are weary, our thoughts and ideas are usually worthless.
	"For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself," Hebrews 12:3 says of Jesus, "so that you may not grow weary and lose heart."
	We all know about idle minds.  But what about tired minds? Weariness is a great tool of the devil.  When we become tired, we are tempted to compromise.  We are tempted to give up.  When this happens, we need to get everything back into perspective.
	"You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;" the passage continues with verses 4-13, "and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, 'My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.'  It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom {his} father does not discipline?  But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.  Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?  For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He {disciplines us} for {our} good, that we may share His holiness.  All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.  Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that {the limb} which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed."
	If we want to develop the mind of Christ, we must stop feeling sorry for ourselves.  We need to stop looking for shortcuts and compromises.  We must stop looking for an "easy out." Weary minds hold useless thoughts.
	We noted earlier that we should not not stand up for right even though we must eliminate vanity and disputes.  Here we should observe that purging thoughts which result from weary and faint minds means that we must stand up for that which is right. It is the same point from a positive angle.
	"And let us not lose heart in doing good," Paul encourages in Galatians 6:9-10, "for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary.  So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith." 
	We noticed the statement of Jesus in Mark 7.  Vain thoughts result when we abandon the teaching of God for the doctrine of men.  We observed Paul's statements in 1 Timothy and Titus that disputes result when we stand up for human ideas and not the truth.
	When are we not able to develop the mind of Christ because our own minds are occupied with worthless thoughts?  It is when we turn away from the truth.  Only the truth will set us free.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission."