“Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.”
“have this mind”
Now Paul turned to the reason he wanted the Philippians to mature. Only mature Christians can carry mature attitudes. The Philippians were hurting each other. The bitter battle went on so long they developed negative attitudes toward each other. When a sin reaches the attitude stage, it is much more difficult to correct. It takes maturity in God’s Word to change an attitude. A momentum of the application of truth to experience will correct deeply rooted negative attitudes.
The word “mind” is the word attitude (cf. Php 2:5). This phrase is an invitation to the mature Philippians to realign their thinking orientation.
A manifestation of whether we have reached maturity is whether we change attitudes and actions. Paul challenged our attitudes.
If we keep tabs on the making of our lives, we can measure our growth. For example, the attitude “joy” can characterize the Christian life. Joy is not happiness. Happiness depends upon circumstances. Joy is an inner animation of the soul regardless of circumstance. Joy is independent of circumstances. An immature Christian is a slave to his/her circumstances. If circumstances are favorable, they are happy. If not, then they go down with the circumstance. Their lives undulate like a roller coaster. There is no attitude of joy.
A stable attitude comes from the application of truth to experience. This allows us to break loose from circumstances. A mature attitude means someone you love can jilt you, but you will still have resources to stabilize you in the loss. A mature believer moves above circumstance.
PRINCIPLE:
A biblical attitude is a habit of thinking as God thinks.
APPLICATION:
Thinking as God thinks will displace negative attitudes. It will make us independent of the circumstance. Are you independent of your circumstances? Do the setbacks of your life control you? Are you controlled by hurts others have perpetrated upon you? Are your attitudes formed from Scripture rather than experience?
If joy is part of the Fruit of the Spirit, I’m interested as to what part if any, the Christian plays in that fruit being visible or growing…actually as I write this I am reminded that we can play a part in loving, being faithful, being good, gentle, being peaceful, patient, and self control with regards to some of the other fruit if you will but joy seems to be different..how do you make yourself truly joyful during persecution, or how do you exercise the joy that you have as Christian who has the fruit of the Spirit. Is there any way to exercise our joy muscles so to speak?
Khalil, Note the studies on the fruit of the Spirit beginning here: https://versebyversecommentary.com/2000/05/08/galatians-522/ Make sure you continue the studies until you reason “joy,” a few studies later.