070 – Do you have the mindset of Adam or the mindset of Christ?

Paul talks about putting off the old self and putting on the new self in Ephesians 4 and Colossians 3. He makes it sound so simple. But it is not necessarily easy.

He talks about his own challenges in Romans 7:15-25. He knows what is right and what he wants to do, but struggles to do it because of the tendency to sin. He cries out in exasperation but then reveals the answer: Christ.

It is only through Christ that we find this freedom from sin. But the problem is that all too often we try to put on our new self in Christ without putting off the old self of Adam. You cannot have both but that's what most of us try to do. We try to put on the new self before we put off the old self. That's like putting on a set of nice clean clothes over the dirty ones you're wearing from working in knee deep mud and expecting not to get the new set dirty.

You cannot go in two directions at the same time.

It's all about your mindset

How do you see yourself? As a miserable sinner or the image and likeness of God? ...or a combination of the two? Back to the problem of trying to put on the new self but holding on to the old self. You can't have both.

The mindset of Adam, the old self, insists that we are all miserable sinners. The mindset of Christ, the new self, reveals that we are the image and likeness of God and heirs to the kingdom of heaven.

Paul doesn't say to try to improve the old self or to get a better Adam mindset. He say's get rid of it. He calls us to the holiness of the new self created in the image of God (Colossians 3:10).

Have you ever looked at someone through a glass brick wall?

That's what the Adam mindset is like. It distorts the image of the person on the other side. You don't need to pray for that person to be healed or restored to wholeness; they are fine. You don't need to reorganize the refracted rays of light to get a better image.

All you have to do is walk over to the other side of the wall and you find the person completely intact and whole. They never had been distorted or deformed.

The belief that we are just a

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James Early, the Jesus Mindset Coach, is a Bible teacher, speaker, and podcaster. His focus is on getting back to the original Christianity of Jesus by embracing the mindset of Christ in daily life.

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