TRANSFORMED

Thinking God's Thoughts Until They Become Your Own.

Romans 12:2: “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind...”

After inviting Jesus Christ to be the Lord of my life, I rose from my knees and walked out of that little prayer room as a new creation. Something profound had happened. My sins had been forgiven, and my spirit had been made alive. I had received a new heart and a new desire to please God.

Although nothing around me had actually changed, everything seemed different. It was as though the whole world had changed. The sky seemed bluer, even though it was night. The grass seemed greener. Life itself had taken on a new meaning. The burden of guilt had been lifted, hope had replaced despair, and for the first time I knew what it meant to have peace with God.

But it didn’t take long to discover something that puzzled me. Although my heart had been changed, my mind had not. I still thought the same way I had before. The old patterns of thinking were still there. Old fears, old habits, old assumptions, and old ways of looking at life didn’t simply disappear because I had been born again.

For the first time, however, I wanted to please God. I wanted to live differently. I wanted my life to reflect Jesus Christ. That was when I began to understand one of the greatest truths of the Christian life.

• Salvation is instantaneous.

• The renewing of the mind is a lifelong journey.

A few days after I became a Christian, a friend sat me down, opened his Bible to and introduced me to two Greek words that would forever change my understanding of the Christian life.

The first was metanoia, a change of mind. Repentance is more than feeling sorry for sin; it is a change in the way we think that leads to a change in the way we live. It was not just turning from sin but now turning towards God.

Then he explained the word Paul uses in Romans 12:2: metamorphoō, from which we get the word “metamorphosis.” He described the transformation of a hairy caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly. Suddenly, everything made sense. God had already made me a new creation, but now He wanted to transform the way I thought. My spirit had been born again in a moment. My mind would be renewed over the course of a lifetime. Then my friend smiled and said something I have never forgotten:

“God renews your mind—He doesn’t remove it.”

We both laughed, but the lesson has stayed with me ever since. God never asks us to stop thinking. Rather, He teaches us to think differently, to think according to His Word until we increasingly develop the mind of Christ.

Then my friend showed me how that transformation takes place. He turned to Ephesians and explained that Christ cleanses His Church “with the washing of water by the word.”

The Word of God does far more than inform us; it washes us. As we continually read it, meditate upon it, believe it, and obey it, the Holy Spirit uses it to cleanse old patterns of thinking and replace them with the mind of Christ.

That day I began a journey that continues to this very day: the lifelong renewing of my mind through the transforming power of God’s Word.

My friend also shared another vital truth that I had never considered before.

The Christian life is lived in the context of a spiritual battle. We have a real adversary, the devil, who comes only “to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” He seeks to discourage us, deceive us, and draw us away from God’s truth.

But my friend also helped me understand something equally important. One of the greatest battlefields is not around us; it is within us. He opened 2 Corinthians 10:3–5 and showed me that the weapons of our warfare are “mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.” He explained that these strongholds are patterns of thinking, arguments, lies, and beliefs that have established themselves in our minds and stand opposed to the knowledge of God.

Then he showed me the solution. We can take every thought captive and bring it into obedience to Christ. As our minds are continually washed by the Word of God, old ways of thinking are replaced by God’s truth. Our thoughts begin to change. As our thoughts change, our motives change. Our motives shape our attitudes. Our attitudes influence our words. Our words affect our actions. Over time, our actions become habits, our habits shape our character, and our character determines the direction of our lives.

Transformation begins with a renewed mind. Your thinking shapes the way you live.

The Holy Spirit does not renew our minds by accident. He renews them as we continually submit our thoughts to the authority of God’s Word. That process requires honesty. It requires humility. It requires us to stop and ask ourselves some important questions. It requires intentional reading, meditation, and application.

Perhaps it’s time to pause for a moment.

The renewing of the mind is not merely a theological concept to understand; it is a daily discipline to practice. If the Holy Spirit is renewing our minds through His Word, then we must honestly ask ourselves some searching questions.

• What thoughts have I accepted that do not agree with God’s Word?

• What lies have I believed about God, myself, or others?

• What Scriptures do I need to meditate on until God’s truth becomes my way of thinking?

• Am I allowing God’s Word to shape my thinking, or has the world shaped it instead?

• What area of my life still needs to be brought into obedience to Christ?

Many years have passed since that friend first opened Romans 12 with me. Yet I still ask myself these same questions today. Renewing the mind is not a lesson we graduate from; it is a lifelong journey of becoming more like Jesus.

As our minds are transformed by the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, our lives are increasingly conformed to the image of Christ. Our thoughts begin to reflect His thoughts. Our attitudes become more like His. Our words become seasoned with grace. Our actions reveal His character. We become the people God intended us to be from the very beginning.

The renewed mind produces the transformed life. The transformed life reflects Christ to a watching world. And through lives that are continually renewed, God reveals His presence, power, and glory.

May we never stop allowing Him to renew our minds until the day we see Him face to face. The journey continues: the journey from salvation to Christlikeness through the renewing of the mind.