Love and Like-Mindedness

I was just going to say that! 

If you have a great marriage, if you have a bestie or a sibling who is like a bestie, if you've found someone --or a group of "someones" --with whom you just click, chances are you've said these words on more than one occasion. Like-mindedness. It's great when it just seems to appear naturally, but is it possible to develop "same brain" among people so diverse?

In Philippians 2:1-4, Paul urges the Christians in Philippi to be likeminded with one another:

Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. 

Pretty amazing, given there were more than two or three people in the church in a city known for welcoming travelers and immigrants. Imagine! It's hard for a family of four to agree on takeout much less dozens, hundreds, or thousands of people from varied backgrounds and nationalities coming together to plan an outreach event. But Paul goes on to explain how this is possible:

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (v. 5-8)

Have the mind of Christ. All of you. In sharing the same dreams, for the same purpose, in the same way --humbly --we develop like-mindedness among our brothers and sister in Christ. When we look at folks who have been members of the same church for dozens of years or couples who joyfully celebrate anniversaries in the double-digits, we are seeing, in most cases, the product of this development. These people didn't just "fall into" a church where everyone thinks as they think; they didn't just "happen to marry" the person most like them. The development of sameness supersedes whatever evidence there is of differences.

Look at the friendship between David and Jonathan presented in the Old Testament. They were worlds apart in the specifics and circumstances of their lives. One was the discarded, youngest son of a farmer, sent daily into the fields to tend sheep and support his brothers who did "the real work." The other, the eldest son of the king of Israel, raised in a palace for the purpose of one day assuming the throne. (Because of the love and shared purpose between these two men, some have even gone so far as to trot them out as a homosexual couple. For certain, that is not the case. Their shared purpose in life --the shared purpose that drew them in such close friendship to one another --was bringing glory to God; they would not have done anything to bring Him dishonor or offend Him.) So different, but they were wholly devoted to the same, the only God. In 1 Samuel 14:6, Jonathan confidently asserts God is able to save by many or by few. In 1 Samuel 17:37, David confidently asserts God, who saved him from the lion and the bear is able to save him from a large man. It was this certainty in the God of Israel, that bound the two as brothers. Like-mindedness. And from that shared devotion, the two loved each other as they loved themselves.

Let me just backtrack for a moment to the misapplication of their love mentioned before. We are called to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39; Mark 12:30, 31). David and Jonathan did that. But what does that mean? People struggle with all sorts of self-esteem issues; the root of which may very well be self-centeredness. When one's love for oneself is so perverted, how can we love others? The world defines love as approving and affirming, always being nice to people we view as oppressed or marginalized. If we are loving others as we love ourselves, this definition makes clear the way we see ourselves: worthy of approval and affirmation, an underdog deserving of a fair shake. Is that true? Is that love? That's the real problem; loving rightly. It's not about loving oneself enough or in such a manner. To love is to love according to God's word, rightly; not just in feeling or passion. Love is so much more! If it doesn't emerge and mature from a common source, the perfect singular Source of whom love itself is part, it cannot be love. The world, typically, does not understand that love because without like-mindedness in Christ, everyone is chasing after what seems right to them; there is no common thought, no common worship, no common purpose. Perfect love, however, can be realized when like-mindedness is present. 

This is how David and Jonathan loved. This is how believers in Philippi loved. This is how we are to love. In like-mindedness, drawn to and by the same pure love of God who is love.