Renewing Your Mind (Victory Series Book #4): Become More Like Christ (2 page)

Romans 12:1–8

Key Point

Transformation begins at salvation and continues as we renew our minds.

Key Verse

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:18

M
any new believers have never been part of a Christian fellowship before. In a good church the people seem friendly enough, and the people go out of their way to make new believers feel welcome. New believers are initially encouraged by the message that they are new creations in Christ. They would like to believe that, but they wonder why they still struggle with the same old issues, thoughts, and feelings. All new believers have probably wondered that—and they deserve an adequate answer.

Let’s start with an illustration. Suppose you played for an abusive soccer coach. He belittled his team and ruled with fear and intimidation. In order to make the team, you had to learn how to cope, succeed, and survive under his authority. Then one day you were traded to a new team, and you got a new coach. The old coach was gone. You were no longer under his authority, and you no longer had any relationship with him.

Your new coach was nothing like your old coach. He was kind and respectful to his team, and he motivated the players out of love. But how do you think you initially related to your new coach and teammates? Probably the same way you had been trained under the old coach. Hopefully, your relationship with your new coach, your behavior on the field, and your attitude toward the game would slowly change as you got to know the new coach and learned how to be a better team player on a well-coached team.

We all started out on the wrong team. We were born physically alive but spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins (see Ephesians 2:1), and we learned how to live independently of God. We had no relationship with God and no knowledge of His ways. So we learned how to cope and tried by our own efforts to succeed in this fallen world. Having no other recourse, we “followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of [darkness] . . . gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath” (Ephesians 2:2–3). As a result, sinful thoughts and desires were deeply ingrained in our minds.

Then one day we became new creations in Christ. We were transferred to a different team and got a new coach, but nobody pushed the “clear” button in our memory banks. All the previous training experiences, memories, and habits were still programmed into our minds, which is why Paul wrote, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2).

We all were conformed to this world. Even as believers, we will remain conformed to this world if we continue believing and living as we always have. So we must make a conscious decision to put aside the lifestyles of this “present evil age” (Galatians 1:4). We must continuously be transformed by the renewing of our minds. The English word “transformation” comes from the Greek word
metamorphosis
, which implies a total change from
inside out. The key to this transformation is the mind, which is the control center of our thoughts, attitudes, and actions.

Why do believers still often struggle with many of the issues they had in their former lives before coming to Christ?

Why are we told to lean not on our own understanding but in all ways acknowledge God?

How do we move from information to transformation?

How did you live under the ruler of this world as compared to living under the lordship of Christ?

Should you seek to be transformed in order to be accepted, or have you been accepted and need to be transformed? Explain.

“Be transformed by the renewal of your mind” tells us what form is guilty, for every soul once had the form of wickedness. . . . Our mind is renewed by the practice of wisdom and reflection on the Word of God and the spiritual understanding of the law. The more one reads the Scriptures daily and the greater one’s understanding is, the more one is renewed always and every day. I doubt whether a mind which is lazy toward the Holy Scriptures and the exercise of spiritual knowledge can be renewed at all.

Origen (AD 184–253)

2 Corinthians 10:1–5

Key Point

Before we came to Christ, we developed defense mechanisms or flesh patterns as we mentally processed the environment in which we were raised.

Key Verse

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:5

T
he imagery Paul uses in 2 Corinthians 10:4–5 relates not to defensive armor but to battering-ram offensive weaponry. He is not using the conventional weapons of this world to tear down strongholds but the divine weapons at our disposal. These strongholds are not physical barriers that fortify a city. They are mental strongholds raised up against
the knowledge of God. We can tear them down because we have the mind of Christ (see 1 Corinthians 2:16) and the Spirit of truth within us.

Research shows that we form attitudes and beliefs early in our childhood. We are not physically born with the presence of God in our lives, so we absorb these mental attitudes from our environment in two primary ways. First, we assimilate them into our minds through prevailing experiences such as the homes in which we were raised, the schools we attended, and the neighborhoods in which we played. These values and attitudes are more caught than taught. Different children respond to the same environment in different ways; therefore, every child’s mental evaluation is different. Second, we develop mental strongholds through traumatic experiences like the death of a parent, divorce in the home, or various kinds of mental and physical abuse. We are not in bondage to traumatic experiences; we are in bondage to the lies we believed as a result of those experiences.

Strongholds are mental habit patterns of thought. Some call them “flesh patterns.” These strongholds are memory traces burned into our minds over time or by the intensity of traumatic experiences. They are similar to what psychologists call defense mechanisms, and they always reveal themselves in a less-than-Christlike temperament. They are like deep tire tracks in a wet pasture. After the ruts have been established and dried over time, the driver doesn’t have to steer anymore. The vehicle will just follow those ruts, and any attempt to steer out of them will be met with resistance. If we follow those neurological pathways for six consecutive weeks, a habit will be established. If the habit persists, a stronghold will form.

For example, an inferiority complex is a mental stronghold. Nobody is born inferior to another, but in this competitive world, it is almost impossible not to feel inferior to someone who is smarter, faster, stronger, and prettier. Negative self-perceptions can only be torn down in Christ. In the kingdom of God, everybody has equal value. God loves each of His children the same, and we are not in competition with one another.

Another example would be the unhealthy characteristics exhibited by children of an alcoholic. Suppose the oldest child chooses to stand up to his father when he comes home drunk. The middle son accommodates his father. The youngest son runs and hides. Twenty years later, those three boys are confronted by a hostile situation. Chances are the oldest son will
fight, the middle son will accommodate, and the youngest son will run and hide. We learn mental strongholds like these over time as we interact with our environment, but they can be torn down in Christ.

If we have been trained wrongly, can we be retrained? If we have believed a lie, can we now believe the truth? If we have programmed our minds wrongly, can they be reprogrammed? Of course! We are transformed by the renewing of our minds.

What are the “weapons” to which Paul refers in 2 Corinthians 10:4? What do they have the power to do?

What are the two primary ways in which we form attitudes and beliefs early in our childhood?

How can we overcome flesh patterns/defense mechanisms?

How can you tell when your response to others is a flesh pattern?

Now that you are a new creation in Christ, why don’t you need old defense mechanisms such as lying, blaming, or denying?

Here, also, one who examines each word minutely can gain a very accurate knowledge of the meaning of the Holy Scripture, so that there is no excuse for any of us being led astray into the snare of sin by an erroneous belief that some sins are punished while others may be committed with impunity. For, what says the apostle? “Destroying counsels and every height that exalts itself against the knowledge of God”; so that every sin, because it is an expression of contempt for the divine law, is called a “height that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.”

Basil the Great (AD 330–379)

Psalm 119:1–16

Key Point

Christ rules in our hearts when we let the Word of Christ richly dwell within us.

Key Verse

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

Colossians 3:15

P
salm 119 is a devotional on the Word of God. It has 22 divisions, each beginning with a different letter in the Hebrew alphabet. The psalmist asks, “How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. . . . I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (verses 9, 11). Paul expands on this instruction in Colossians 3:15: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” “Rule” means “to act as a judge or arbiter.” How do we let the peace of
Christ arbitrate in our hearts? By letting the Word of Christ dwell within us (see Colossians 3:16).

Let’s say you have stored a lot of filth in your mind and then one day you decide to clean up your mind. The battle gets worse the moment you make that decision. The battle isn’t very intense as long as you are just giving in to tempting thoughts. The battle begins the moment you decide to resist tempting thoughts. So how do you win the battle for your mind?

Imagine your mind is a pot filled with coffee. Because you chose to mix coffee grounds with the water, the liquid is dark, dirty, and opaque. There is no way you can filter out the coffee from the water. Now suppose there is a bowl of crystal-clear ice next to the pot. Each day, you take one ice cube and put it in the pot. At first you do not notice any difference, but as you add one cube per day, the liquid in the pot begins to clear up. If you keep adding ice day after day, there will come a time when you won’t be able to taste, smell, or see the coffee in the pot. Although the coffee is still there, the ice has diluted it. This method will only work if you don’t also keep adding a scoop of coffee every day.

If we wish to rid our minds of filth, we must read and study the Word of God each day. Our minds are like computers—if we put garbage in, we will get garbage out. The process of renewing our mind often begins with one step forward and one step backward. We spend time in God’s Word during our devotions, but then go back into the world for work and leisure, where we are mentally assaulted again. Learning to take every thought captive in obedience to Christ takes time and commitment, but it can be done. The next day we take two steps forward and one back, then three steps forward and one back. If we stay committed to the process, it will soon become 20, 30, and 40 steps forward and one back.

The Spirit of God will lead us into all truth if we choose that path, and He will convict us if we choose the wrong path. Make a commitment to be like the psalmist, who wrote, “I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word” (Psalm 119:14–16).

Why will the battle for our minds get worse the moment we make a decision to rid ourselves of thoughts not from God?

How can we begin to rid our minds of filth since there is no “delete” button?

Why is it important not to get discouraged as we begin the process of renewing our minds?

What is your worst mental obsession? How did it start?

What practical steps can you take so that the peace of Christ can rule in your heart?

Seek nothing with exterior gold and bodily adornment; but consider the garment as one worthy to adorn him who is according to the image of his Creator, as the apostle says, “Stripping off the old man, and putting on the new, one that is being renewed unto perfect knowledge ‘according to the image of his Creator.’” And he who had put on “the heart of mercy, kindness, humility, patience and meekness” is clothed within and has adorned the inner man.

Basil the Great (AD 330–379)