We demolish arguments and every pretension
that sets itself up against the knowledge of God,
and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:5
But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:16
The scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz was a likable but pitiful character. No brain...well, a brain of straw. Fortunately, he at least knew he had straw for a brain and had both the desire for a real brain and the courage to go in search of one. His plight is not so different from those who are held captive to carnal thinking. Before Christ, our minds are trapped in the world's thinking, and we do not understand the things of God.
There were so many miracles that took place when I opened my heart to Christ over 50 years ago. But one instantaneous transformation was new spiritual thinking...a new mind to see, understand and love God's truth. I had grown up in a whole family of pseudo-Christians who adhered to a false religion. Thankfully, we were nominal in church attendance so I didn't get a steady diet of their lies. Looking back I know that God was protecting our family, preparing all of us to see and know the truth. Even as a young girl, I sensed that what I was being taught in church was error. Quite honestly, it didn't make sense. Sitting under the gospel message I heard the full truth about Christ, my sin, and the way to salvation and I knew...I just knew this was it! This was truth and I was set free! I embraced Christ as Lord and Savior and have been amazed by his presence in me all these years.
At salvation we are given the Holy Spirit who begins a mighty work of transformation within us. He not only changes our hearts...He changes our minds. Suddenly we see things from a spiritual...a truth perspective. Throughout our lives God is constantly, consistently working to transform us and draw us closer to Him, to make us more like Jesus. It is an incredible truth to me that we are given the mind of Christ. I fear that much like the research that says we only tap into a fraction of the power and potential of our physical brains, many Christians don't access the power of Spirit with us, within our minds. We still allow the trappings of the world to have influence over us. The only protection is to daily fill our minds with God's truth. When we seek His wisdom we are thinking with the mind of Christ. When we look at life, circumstances, what the world say through the lens of Scripture, we are thinking with the mind of Christ. When we fear, worry, doubt...we are letting the world creep in. We have to pull out any remnant of our old straw brain...and fill our heads with all that is God's truth. Only then will we really be free of the captivity of this world.
Design Details:
This is the 100 Days of Bible Promises book by Illustrated Faith. I'm skipping around in it as I find the themes and messages that I seek to illustrate. Shanna Noel, author, really hit this one square on. Her devotional thoughts and scriptures always reflect the truth. They are very sound and very well written. I highly recommend this book if you don't already have it. I used the newest stamp set from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps called, Happy Scarecrow by Krista Hamrick. It's an adorable set and so versatile. I stamped the scarecrow on white cardstock, then stamped parts of the image on various designer papers to be able to paper-piece the scarecrow. I also stamped the flowers from the set on cardstock and colored with Copic markers. Then I adhered to the page. Since Copic markers will bleed through these pages, it's perfect to just do them on cardstock first, then fussy-cut and color off the page first. I also used Sunshine Girl and Cold Coffee Alphas for the larger lettering. I used a variety of acrylic paints, stencils and texture stamps to add color and dimension to the page.
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