“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5).
“But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16).
“Be renewed in the spirit of your mind” (Ephesians 4:23).
These all are exhortations from the apostle Paul. He’s telling the people of God, “Let the mind that is in Christ—the very thinking of Jesus—be your thinking also. His mindset is the one we all are to seek.”
Where did the disciples start their ministry? Jesus sent them to the distressed, the poor, those who were bowed down with sin, bondages and life-controlling habits. “And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and the hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled” (Luke 14:23).
When Moses told Pharaoh, “Let my people go,” it was because God had announced the time for harvest. The moment had come for Israel’s deliverance from captivity!
But Pharaoh responded, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go” (Exodus 5:2). Pharaoh represents Satan’s demonic system, including false religions and oppression that hold people under bondage.
Jesus understood men’s hearts and knew that we forget God in times of prosperity.
Christ knew that in times of distress and calamity, people are forced to face eternity. Suffering, fear and hard times ripen people for hearing and receiving the gospel. Consider the context of His words: “When he saw the multitudes . . . because they fainted . . . then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous” (Matthew 9:36–37, italics mine).
Jesus gives us a picture of what the last days will look like. This last-days picture began at His ascension and it will end only when He comes again—and we are getting very close to that point now!
Scripture shows us that David, Job and other Old Testament saints came out of their dark times by remembering God’s faithfulness to past generations. David wrote that whenever his heart was desolate, “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands” (Psalm 143:5). Indeed, multitudes of godly saints throughout history have emerged from their depression and discouragement in just this way.
Paul shows us God’s specific purpose in our deeply trying, dark times: “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
Not even the godly, devoted apostle Paul was immune to times of discouragement. He wrote to the Corinthians, “Trouble . . . came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life” (2 Corinthians 1:8).
The Greek word that Paul uses for despair in this verse translates as, “We could not understand it; we despaired, even to death.” He’s saying, in short, “We longed to die, because we couldn’t comprehend what we were going through. We were pressed beyond our endurance.”
Have you ever known depression? Have you been so worried and perplexed that you endured sleepless nights? Have you had times when you were so low and troubled, no one could comfort you? Have you been so down that you felt like giving up, feeling your life was a total failure?
Nobody can come under Christ’s lordship until he faces the demands of the cross of Calvary.