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The renewal of the mind is for the full existence and real practice of the one new man—Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:10-11:
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Our mind needs to be renewed not only for our spiritual conduct or for our personal, ethical behavior but also for the existence of the one new man.
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The focal point of our being renewed in the spirit of our mind is the one new man—Eph. 4:23-24.
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Throughout our life, our national and racial mentality has been built up, and for the existence of the one new man, this mentality must be renewed—Col. 3:10-11:
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Our natural and national mentality was educated and built up according to our racial and cultural background; this is the greatest hindrance to the existence of the new man.
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In order for the one new man to come into full existence, we must experience a thorough renewal of our mind, which has been built up according to our nationality and culture—vv. 10-11.
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The only way that the one new man can be realized practically is by our mind being renewed—Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23-24; Col. 3:10-11:
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We need to be renewed in the spirit of our mind actually and daily in our living; otherwise, there is no way for the Lord to have the new man.
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The one new man cannot be realized by our being corrected or taught but by the Spirit of God permeating our mentality.
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In our prayer we need to have a desire to enter into the practicality of the one new man, and thus we need to ask the Lord to renew our mind and transform our inward being—Rom. 12:2.
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Daily we need to put off the old man and put on the new man; for this we need to drink of the one Spirit that we may be renewed in the spirit of our mind in every area of our practical, daily life—Eph. 4:22-32.
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When we drink of the Spirit, He saturates every part of our being—1 Cor. 12:13:
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As we drink of the Spirit, the first part of our soul that He saturates is our mind.
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If we drink of the Spirit, we will be renewed in the spirit of our mind, and this renewing will make us all into one new man—Eph. 4:23-24.
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When our mind has been renewed, the one new man will come into existence in a practical way, and Christ will truly be all and in all—Col. 3:10-11.
Morning Nourishment
Rom. 12:2 And do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect.1 Cor. 12:13 For also in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18 tells us to be filled in spirit. To be drunk with wine is to be filled in the body, whereas to be filled in the spirit (our regenerated spirit, not God's Spirit) is to be filled with Christ (1:23) unto the fullness of God (3:19). The Lord wants to spread from our spirit first into our mind and then into our emotion and will. Our regenerated spirit mingled with the indwelling Spirit of God spreads into our mind. It is in this mingled spirit of our mind that we are renewed. To drink of the Spirit is to open ourselves to the Lord by praying to Him, calling upon His name, and fellowshipping with Him. The Spirit of God today is the drinking water. The more we drink of the Spirit, the more He fills us with Himself, and the more He saturates our mind to renew it for transformation. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “The One New Man,” p. 516)
Today's Reading
We need to be renewed in our mind not just for our personal, ethical behavior but for the one new man. Many Christians today still hold on to their natural, religious, and individual concepts because they will not let the Spirit spread into their mind. They do not let the Spirit take over their mind. We all need to open ourselves up to the Lord and pray, “Lord, I am here. I want my mind to be fully opened to You. Come in and fill me up. Permeate, saturate, and possess my entire inward being.” I believe that if we would pray to the Lord in such a way, the Spirit would have a way to permeate our mind. When the Spirit permeates our mind, the ordinances are over. When the Spirit has possessed and saturated our mind, we will not care for black, white, Chinese, Japanese, American, British, German, French, Italian, or Spanish. We will not care whether the meeting is noisy or quiet. We will only care for the one new man.Even though in this modern era so many races and peoples have been brought together, people still like to keep themselves divided. To keep ourselves divided from other Christians because of religious ordinances is to be conformed to this age because this age is one of division. To cause division is to be conformed to this age. We need to interpret Romans 12:2 in the way of not being conformed to this age of division….No natural person has any place in the one new man.
The only way the one new man can be realized practically is by our mind being renewed. The one new man cannot be realized by our being corrected or taught but by the Spirit of God permeating our mentality. When the element of God gets into our mentality, we will think as He thinks, we will see things the way He does, and we will consider the situation as He does. It is then that the one new man will come into existence. There will be no races, no social ranks, and no religious differences. Christ will truly be all and in all. I believe that this is the up-to-date vision of the Lord's move on this earth. The Lord is moving on to get the one new man.
The building of the church depends upon the existence of the new man. If the new man comes into existence, no doubt, the builded church is here. Regardless of the present situation of division, the Lord is going to get the new man. Everything that the Lord is doing in this present age is to usher in the practical existence of the one new man. To drop our natural, religious concepts, our mind needs to be saturated, permeated, possessed, and taken over by our mingled spirit. Then our concepts will be fully revolutionized, and we will no longer have any ordinances. The new man will then come into existence. This is the Lord's move on the earth today. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “The One New Man,” pp. 519-520)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man,” ch. 9