Renewing Your Mind

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.  

Romans 12:2

Immediately after instructing us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, Paul follows up with a second instruction. He instructs us on how important it is to not be conformed to the ways of this world and he shares with us the secret of how to keep that from happening. He tells us to renew our minds. He says that if we renew our mind that it will transform us into a representation of God’s good, acceptable, and perfect will. It all happens through our thinking. Are we going to conform our thinking to the ways of this world, or will we allow our renewed thinking transform us? 

The answer to this question leads us to another question: What are you feeding yourself? Specifically what are you feeding your mind? Are you feeding your mind the wisdom of this world or the wisdom of God? 1 Corinthians 3:19 says that “...the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God...” Which wisdom are you feeding off of? What are you allowing through your eyes and ears? What thoughts are you dwelling on? The world is constantly trying to feed us it’s philosophy through music, movies, advertisements, schools, and the internet. There are times where we have no choice but to hear it or see it but when we do have a choice, what are we choosing. Are we choosing to allow the Word of God in or the wisdom of the world? When we get home after work are we spending the whole evening in front of the t.v. or in front of the throne of the Most High? If we are not conscious about what we are allowing into our minds eventually we will find our thoughts, words, and actions conformed to those of the world around us. We are called to be lights in this world and in order to be a light we must stand out, we must be different, we must be transformed. Light stands out from the darkness and we need to be transformed into lights, shining the truth of God’s Word in this dark world.

As Paul mentions, this transformation begins in our mind, our thinking. It is through renewing the way that we think that we will begin to see out words and our actions be transformed into what God wants them to be. We need to renew our minds with the Word of God. We need to grasp hold of His wisdom and His will. We do this through regulating what we allow in, and more importantly through making sure that we take time to allow Him in. We need to take time meditating on His Word and time in conversation with Him. We should be choosing to listen to music that speaks His wisdom and spending time with people who are also seeking Him. We should be listening to sermons based on His Word whenever we get a chance. Then when we do hear things based in the wisdom of this world we can recognize it for what it is. We can make the choice to not accept it and to continue after the true wisdom that only comes from God.