God deals very strictly with His children in matters of mortification. The more mature a believer becomes, the more ruthless God is in detecting unchristlikeness within the believer’s vessel. His strictness begins to require immediate resolve. This is because there is a war going on that you and I cannot afford to lose. God has placed us in this war for our perfecting, but very often that which was meant for perfection becomes tragic when the battle is not fought within God’s order of fire. To maintain field sobriety and a readiness to be tactically instant in any season, God begins dealing with our sin in a ruthless way. There is a divine purpose behind His inflexibility: we have much things to do in His strength and for His glory…but we are only here on earth for a brief period. In a vapor’s time we will be gone.
In the meantime, there is a battle raging, the field of which is the mind. Fiery darts bombard our minds each day from the camp of Satan and our fleshly nature, seeking to enter our hearts for embracement by way of temptation. The discernment of the Holy Spirit exposes each flaming dart as it attempts to lodge into our minds. Mortification prevents this entry from beginning in the mind. God tells us that a person without mortification in this regard is like a city broken down and without walls (Proverbs 25:28). Every suggestion, every impulse needs to be discerned before we let it into our minds for rumination. The Spirit of God works in us the will to withstand evil and the enabling grace necessary to win the victory. Our task in the battle is to simply answer “amen” to His instruction and to keep looking onto Jesus Christ.
We are told to keep our minds strong and tight (I Peter 1:13); to keep our minds occupied by pure and wholesome things which are approved by God (Philippians 3:13-14); to scrutinize and arrest any and all unauthorized thoughts (II Corinthians 10:3-5); to keep our hearts and minds in peace by not worrying (Philippians 4:6-7); to diligently keep our hearts from being subverted (Proverbs 4:23); to protect our hearts by taking on the very mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5); to be renewed in the spirit of our minds (Ephesians 4:23); to be transformed by the renewing of our minds to know the perfect will of God (Romans 12:2); to have rule over our own spirits (Proverbs 16:32; 25:28); to not allow past failings to torment us (Philippians 3:13,14); to mortify by “putting on” the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14), so that by failing to provide the flesh with substance, the lusts of body will not be fulfilled; and to “arm” ourselves with the same mind Jesus Christ had, unto suffering in the flesh to the ceasing of sin (I Peter 4:1-2).
All these verses and many others speak in some way of mortification and the subsequent guardianship of the mind and heart. By the Word of God and faith, make it your business to put to death the deeds of the body and thus keep the gates of your mind girded and heart pure. This is an area of teaching in Christianity which remains conspicuously silent in the pulpits, because of what it involves and what it demands. Mortification is often considered legalistic because so very few believers actually understand and enter into the true experience. To those, however, who have been brought to the place of relinquishing all they have at the feet of Jesus Christ, mortification is a quiet, hidden death that begets a life of tremendous power and victory.
Dear saint, if you would be an ambassador of Christ and a fragrance of life to the world around you, make it your life’s ambition to mortify by the Holy Spirit any trace of unchristlikeness found in your members as soon as God graciously shines His light upon it. Covet God’s unswerving ruthlessness in your life in revealing any risings of the flesh against the inner man of your heart. This is the mark of sonship! Die daily to your flesh’s nature, deny yourself, accept the resulting pain as high honor, suffer temporarily in the flesh and thus cease from sin. Your Heavenly Father will reward you openly for that which you give in private. He will establish your heart in holiness and lead your feet in paths of righteousness for His glory. Render unto Him therefore truth in the inward parts; turn away from all inner idols and wait upon His strength to fill your spirit. Offer up sacrifices through Christ, and His high honor and pleasure will be upon your life.
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