unchanged minds

One of the things I most struggle with as a pastor is the fact that the human mind is not only reluctant to be renewed but resistant. I not only deal with this in the lives of the people I pastor, but with my own mind too. The mind does not want to change. It wants to remain comfortable, secure and immune. I believe this is the natural bedrock of the human being. Psychologically, spiritually, religiously, even organically, the mind refuses to change. Its primary function is to protect the organism. So for the mind to end, to die, is the last thing the mind is willing to do. It will not!

We are naturally and organically escapist, unrealistic and religious. We seek for confirmation of what we already believe. We create proofs for ideas we already have. Even the most radical of our thoughts are justifications, excuses and vindications for the way we already think. I don’t know why I keep getting surprised by how religious we are with our trite and clichéd platitudes. We have such a strong urge to be affirmed, comforted and secure that renewal is simply out of the question. It is our most basic refusal to not die, to not suffer, to not end and be crucified.

Is it possible to enter death, to take up the cross, and to die today? Is it possible for my mind to end as it is now in order that it might be raised to new life? I believe it is possible. But right now it seems like the impossible possibility.