Acquiring the “mind of Christ” doesn’t happen through osmosis. It requires first that we have a sincere desire to “put on Christ” and then the willingness to actually work at changing and transforming ourselves into humans who make every attempt to think and act like Jesus, the Christ.

While regular attendance at the Divine Liturgy is a real beginning and an absolutely essential part of this process, mere attendance is insufficient to accomplish transformation. It requires us to continuously look at how we think and behave and to establish a plan that will help us accomplish this transformation.

One of the biggest problems I think most people encounter is that they don’t necessarily feel or realize that they need to find ways to accomplish personal transformation. I’m sure that if your reading this article you are already making an attempt to be a “good” person and not break any Commandments. And so you probably think that, since you are not a great sinner, you’ve already accomplished the task of personal transformation in the sense of how Jesus talked about it.

We must remember that Jesus did not only teach “bad” people or “great” sinners. He spoke to the regular people of His day – people who probably regularly engaged in religious practices and attempted to live in accord to the dictates of their religion.

The problem is, and was, that one can keep all the commandments and rules of religion and still not accomplish “putting on Christ.” To “put on Christ” means to live in accord with the “spirit” of His teaching and not the letter of the law. The letter of the law does not call us to unconditional love of others! The letter of the

law does not necessarily call us to be non-judgmental or concerned about others. The letter of the law does not equate love of God with love of neighbor. The letter of the law does not suggest that we are truly called to be our brothers’ keeper.

The “mind of Christ” calls us to live in accord with the Spirit of God and not only the letter of the law. For most of us this requires some personal change and some personal transformation.

Remember, in God’s mind which is manifested in Jesus, union with Him – salvation – is achieved by how we treat others. To unconditionally love others, of course, we must first love ourselves.