Devotions-THE SECOND EFFECT OF THE LOSS OF IDENTITY: CORRUPTION OF MIND| Dec 2001 | Search Archives

THE SECOND EFFECT OF THE LOSS OF IDENTITY- CORRUPTION OF MIND

As Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, they became like God in an aspect. They became aware of the outer circumstances as being good or evil. As they became aware of their nakedness, it was evil to them because their disobedience corrupted their minds. They were naked all along but God’s Glory covered them. Now after eating from the tree of good and evil, they experienced their nakedness as knowledge and fact. They lost the covering of the Glory when they lost their dependence and trust in God.

Since the fall, good and evil has tried to control our lives. We cannot find our identity by the things we do or by the knowledge of things and people. As their identity was based on the knowledge of good and evil, their behavior was in opposition to their created purpose.

Instead of God’s voice drawing them to communion with Him, they hid in the cool of the day. “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God …” (Genesis 3:8)

As we judge our circumstances through the self-knowledge we acquired of good and evil, it will keep us away from the presence of God. Flesh fights the Spirit and our mind and conscience becomes the judge instead of God. Our behavior is a reaction to protect our sinful conscience.

Did you never wonder why Jesus repeatedly told us not to judge but to have mercy and forgiveness so that we are not guided by our knowledge of good and evil? Instead, he said, put on the mind of God, which is full of mercy and forgiveness because that is the Kingdom thinking we had before the fall.

How are we going to restore the identity, which we had lost, to be covered again in God’s glory, so that our weakness can be covered in His strength? “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)

Many times we try to obtain the kingdom with our fleshly efforts of obeying rules never realizing that God is speaking about awakening of the spirit man. The spirit man does not live by the awareness of rules and laws. He lives by keeping alive his desire for God and by having communion with God. The spirit man seeks the law and order of the Spirit, which is not the same as the law, and traditions of man. We need to find a key to awaken the inner man who is asleep or dead due to the effects of the knowledge of good and evil. What is this key to awaken the inner man?

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…” (Matthew 5:6) Righteousness is the key to opening and restoring the life of the inner man. It means to be upright, to be just, fair-minded and having a clear conscience.

“Being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:11) To be filled with the fruits of righteousness, means to have the fruits of the Spirit within our minds. Adam and Eve lost this purity of mind. They lost the ability to let God move through their minds by acquiring the knowledge of good and evil. You can see the fruit of the seed of good and evil in the offspring of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel. Cain could not judge correctly anymore and instead of judgement, he was jealous. This jealousy so corrupted his mind and created being that he would kill Abel to correct and control his situation. His conscience was not clear before God. Instead of admitting his failure, he decided to manipulate the situation to make himself appear to be the best.

How do we put on the mind of Christ? We have to start with a clear conscience before God. To have a clear conscience is to be rid of unconfessed sin and the effects of sin. If we are not rid of the effects of our sin, we will not be able to give God the freedom to move through us. We will still act guilty and our behavior will be a reaction to justify our guiltiness. For example, self-condemnation is the effect of a seared conscience not fully realizing the power of the redemptive death of Jesus Christ to forgive all guilt. The person you may have been in the past through sinful actions still causes you guilt and shame. Jesus wants us to be absolutely free from the remembrance of our past lives. If these effects are not washed from our minds, we will carry these tainted thoughts of ourselves into our ministry and relationships with others. We will not be able to be righteous and fair-minded because our judgements will reflect our self-condemnation, guilt, self-hate, anger and criticism. If we have the mind of Christ, our ability to judge will not be the center of our lives, but our center will be the Father, Himself, who imparts into us a new understanding, to understand as He does, frees our conscience through the Blood of Christ.

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,” (Philippians 2:5) Jesus had only one desire and that was to fulfill the Father’s will for his life. He retained the knowledge of the will of the Father in His mind. It was always present before Him. This is the new understanding. Because of the constant awareness of the Father’s will, he could accomplish His purpose in life without regard for His personal suffering.

In the assessment of good and evil, we will not have this all present awareness and knowledge of God. It is because we do not retain the present knowledge of God’s will that our minds become reprobate. This knowledge is the experience of God’s love for us. Without it, self-love dominates our lives.

Reprobate means to make morality bad or crooked. This reprobate mind causes us to turn from our original purpose of creation to yield to the destroyer. We put into action the evil that our mind conceives. This reprobate mind will make a soul desolate as the light of revelation, which gives the soul life, is completely refused. The reprobate mind lives for self-gratification.

By seeking the Kingdom first, we redirect our minds to Christ. This redirection of our mind to be like the mind of Christ, channels our emotions to develop in the fruits of the Spirit. We identify ourselves with Christ’s love to fulfill the Father’s will to restore all men to Himself. We will not identify ourselves by our needs and pleasure, but by His will and pleasure.