Luke 24:45-49

Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures. He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send forth the promise of my Father on you. But wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high.”

It is a common belief that in order to have an open mind you must expose yourself to everything. The Bible tells us that this is not the case. We read here that a truly open mind is one that is able to comprehend the truth. Exposing yourself to a lie does not open your mind, it confuses it, and this is what we see very frequently in the world in which we live. It isn’t uncommon for us to hear of a new idea through the media or our friends that sounds true, but when carefully considered proves to be false. Opening our minds to lies is dangerous because it could lead to costly mistakes, to the loss of life, or even worse: the loss of eternal life.

In this passage, we see that it was the proper time for Jesus to teach the disciples without symbolic stories. He also gave them instructions. They were supposed to become “witnesses of these things” and be sent to “all the nations.” First, however they were to wait until they were “clothed with power from on high.”

The problem with an “open mind” in the sense that the world describes it, is that it introduces errors into thinking. Just like a computer with errors in it stops a person from using the computer and wastes their time and effort, so a mind that is filled with errors stops it from providing useful service. An open mind is one that learns and keeps the truth and this is why it was so important that the disciples wait for the “power from on high.” We should also depend on this Power in order to do the work that God wants us to do.