Why Christians Should Do Very Little Thinking

“For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

2 Corinth. 5:7

Thinking, engaging in mental activity, has been over-hyped by majority of people in the world. The mind, of course, is of extreme importance. But the issue is that everybody, especially Christians, have an even greater way of producing ideas, which is seldom used; they wrongly put the mind ahead.

The mind is nothing close, in comparison, to the something called the sub-conscious mind in its capabilities. The sub-conscious mind is also biblically known as the ‘spirit’ or the ‘heart’ of man. Jesus gave an example for us to follow. He seldom did what he wanted mentally. According to him, he only did what he heard the father do or say (John 5:19), not his physical father, but his spiritual father. Jesus seldom followed his mental inclinations, how much less should we?

The Bible explains that God directs us through our spirits (Prov. 20:29). God is a spirit; hence, he only directs us through our spirits. He isn’t a mental being, he’s a spirit being. Man wasn’t originally supposed to live by sensory perception; man was meant to live by discernment.

God, by the Holy Spirit wants to live through us, and if that’s going to happen, it’s primarily going to be through our spirits, not our minds. There has to be a spirit-to-spirit communication.

Man without God is dead. Without God, he’s like a well without water; he’s supposed to be sustained. God sourced man. And he’s the only one who can sustain him. Myles Munroe, in his book, The Spirit of Leadership, explains a concept that explains the source and resource relationship that exist between God and man. He explains a principle called the principle of source and resource. It states that:

“A thing consists of the same material of which it came and must remain attached to its source in order to live and maximize its potentials.”

This applies in man’s case. If God is a spirit (and he is), that implies that man is also a spirit being, not a mental being because man was created from God—his spirit is from God. And if he’s going to function properly and efficiently as a spirit being, he must remain connected to his source—God.

Proverbs 20:29 explains that God can only contact man through his spirit. Hence, man is supposed to live from his spirit all the time. This is how Adam lived before the fall. He lived by discernment. He named all the animals of the field, and by God’s appraisal, Adam literally read his mind concerning the name he (God) wanted for those animals.

God saw that Adam’s conception was in synch with his. Gen 2:19 reads, “And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.” Notice the last part of the verse, it said: “And whatsoever Adam called every living creature that was the name thereof.”That implied that God initially had a name in mind for those animals, and it appeared that Adam had just correctly read the mind of God. That’s how man was meant to live.

Many Christians don’t hear the voice of God primarily because they’re mind-full. They’re always mind-conscious; they don’t value their spiritual identity. They seem to think all there is is all they can perceive physically. Whatever they’re able to perceive by their physical sense is what really makes sense to them; they don’t think things can be analyzed another way apart from mentally. There’s just too much noise in their minds.

The truth is, thinking too much deadens God’s voice, thus blocking one from all the rich innovative ideas and supernatural directions that could be gotten from God. Thinking too much when God speaks also kills your faith.

That’s why when such folks happen to get something from their spirit; they begin to analyze it through their mind. And if it doesn’t seem to make sense mentally, they throw it away. Living like this is an anomaly for a Christian. It’s not the way God designed for man to live. Little wonder, as we saw in John 5:19, Jesus didn’t live that way.

In fact, from mental analysis or logic, nothing God says or wants is reasonable. That’s why it’s impossible to please God when you place a priority on mental analysis.

Human nature has its frailties. It’s not possible to please God when you live by mental calculation. You know, human nature has a mental inclination to hate people who offend them. Human nature has this mental inclination or inert desire to not please God. Have you ever heard someone try to exonerate a perpetrator of his offense by saying something like, “leave him alone, it’s human nature to act that way?”

The word for ‘flesh’ has its origin from the Greek word ‘sarx,’ and it means, among other things, human nature (with its frailties [physically or morally] and passions), or (specifically) a human being (as such): carnal.

It’s not God’s desire that his children live according to their natural mental inclinations. He wants them to go higher—living from their spirits.

Many might want to argue that to be logical; you have to be able to analyze your statements mentally. Then come up with a conclusion. But that’s just wrong. Jesus told his disciples, in Luke 12:11-12, “And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say. For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.”

In essence, Jesus was trying to say, ‘you can’t be more ‘logical’ than the Holy Ghost, just give him the opportunity to speak through you.’

Remember, a Christian isn’t supposed to struggle with being right in whatever he does. After all, he’s not trying to be righteous; he’s righteous already. In other words, whatever he says or do is always right. And if this isn’t the case it mean he’s chosen to walk through mental perception—in the flesh; he’s ignored walking in the spirit.

Jesus acted in various ways in the Bible. At one time we saw him cursing a tree (Matt. 21:19). A man who’s trying to be logical would’ve been wondering, “but it’s a sin to curse, why is he cursing?” At other times, we saw him spoiling people’s business (Mk. 11:15). At one other occasion, we saw him let a sexual immoralist go unpunished (John 8:1-11). By mere menntal analysis that looked wrong, doesn’t it? But Jesus always in the right—in sync with God.

The Bible makes it clear that whoever is born of God cannot sin (1 John 3:9), why is that, it’s because it’s impossible to find fault in righteousness. And anyone who’s born of God is made the righteousness of God (2 Corinth. 5:21). You know it’s simply impossible to find sin in righteousness. But to live in that righteousness is to live in the spirit. Because God is a spirit and since our righteousness is spiritual, it’ll take a spiritual walk, not mental, to also live righteously.

Gal. 5: 16 clearly states: “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” In paraphrasing that, it can also read, “Live according to the promptings of your spirit, and you will not find yourself doing the wrong things your mind tells you to do.”

Because we’re the righteousness of God, we don’t think about the right things to say or do, we just know and do them because it’s our nature to do right. Walking in the spirit is a way of thinking that’s spiritual that is, it line up with the righteousness of God’s word. However, when we get our mind involved by trying to reason out spiritual thoughts, we err from righteousness. Little wonder the carnal mind is sin-prone.

When we build our spirits with God’s word, it begins to gain the ascendency over our natural mental reactions to things, and we begin to find that we’re able to please God effortlessly—by instinct, not by thinking.