Renewing the Mind

Romans 12:2 (NKJV) 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.

Through Christ’s crucifixion, burial, and resurrection, we have been set free from slavery to sin and made alive and victorious in the Spirit. Our old sinful life was crucified and buried with Jesus. Therefore, we now have His power at work in us to resist wrong behavior. By grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, we are free to live our lives in holiness, give our lives daily as worship to God, and be transformed in our thinking. I am grateful to be a living testimony to the grace and the Word of God to renew the mind.

To “renew” is “to renovate,” implying a restoration to freshness or to an original state. The “mind” constitutes the intellect or understanding, but also includes all that is described in the word “mind-set,” that is, the feelings and the will. Being “transformed” by the renewal of the mind indicates a literal “change in the form or formulas of thought or being.” This describes redemption’s provision of power to instill godliness in us—a power that transforms 1) our thoughts, which lead to formulating 2) our purposes, which proceed to dictate our actions; and, thus, 3) our actions become character-determining habits, shaping the life and setting the course for the future. The path to godly living is not complicated, nor is it energized by the flesh, but it does call the believer to willing submission to the Father’s provision and ways.

World is literally “age,” referring to a godless system. We are not to accept the pattern of an age whose god is the Devil (2 Cor. 4:4). On the contrary, we are to be transformed by a renewed mind committed to the ideals of the kingdom of God. Prove means to test and to prove by practice in everyday life that God’s will for us is good and acceptable and perfect.

Do not live according to the ways of the world, but let the Bible transform your mind. Think and act God’s way every day.