Recently, I heard a mental suggestion, “What if God does not exist?” It was unsettling, so foreign to my thinking, and then it struck me. That is the carnal mind speaking, that mind which relies entirely upon the physical senses for its reality. Even if the carnal mind were to profess faith in God, it would be a blind belief because there is no direct physical evidence that He does exist. When push comes to shove, there is nothing to stand upon.
St. Paul warns:
“to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”
Why enmity against God? Well, the carnal mind considers material things more real than God, trusts in them, and yes, worships them, only giving lip-service to God. The carnal mind was on full display during the recent COVID “pandemic” when church-goers bowed down to threatening government mandates and the COVID god and wore masks in church! In juxtaposition is the wonderful story of Daniel, who, when he was threatened with being fed to the hungry lions if he insisted on praying to his God instead of government (Nebuchadnezzar), never wavered, so certain was his faith. This theme of the spiritual defying the tyranny of the carnal mind, runs throughout the Bible, showing “The central fact of the Bible is the superiority of spiritual over physical power.” (S&H)
Paul continues:
“So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.”
What is this Spirit of God? Surely it includes spiritual sense, that which sees beyond the physical evidence, that which trusts a higher ideal than itself. Spiritual sense warns us when evil is present and guides us through it. It recognizes good as God-bestowed. It discerns the need before it is articulated. It acknowledges a good God in all its ways. It is the Christ-spirit.
Spiritual sense is synonymous with the faith (not blind faith!) described so beautifully in Hebrews 11:
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” The rest of the chapter gives many examples of those who denied the carnal mind, and let the Spirit of God dwell in them. Listen to the complete chapter here.