A RENEWED MIND

Romans 12:2

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what the will of God is, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

I read this verse in my devotions the other morning and saw it in an entirely new light.  How can a verse that is so well known continue to reveal truth and wonder?  It is by the power of God’s living word that continues to shape us and show us new things.

Paul is talking about the process of sanctification, that work of the Holy Spirit whereby he changes the child of God from the worldly sinner he once was into the image of Jesus Christ.  The verse is more easily understood taken from the end.  The goal of the work of the Spirit in our lives is to bring us to a place where we are discerning and obeying God’s will.  What he wants us to do is that which is good, acceptable, and perfect (or holy).

It is almost impossible to imagine how God, through his Spirit, changes us so dramatically.  Before we come to faith we live in the world and the world is shaping us according to its own pattern.  That’s what the word “conform” means.  There is no resistance to this process of worldly conformation on our part.  We are passive recipients of the pressures of the world that shape us. 

But God intervenes in this process and does an amazing thing.  He gives us faith and we believe in the atoning work of Jesus on the cross.  We confess our sin and recognize that we have been shaped by the world.  God grants us the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and he begins to go to work on us.  How does he do this?  He renews our minds.  I think Paul means more than just the way we think.  I believe he uses the word “mind” to refer to our inner being, our heart, our way of relating to God.

The renewing of our inner being is the work of the Holy Spirit.  We cannot renew ourselves.  Neither can we transform ourselves.  That is why Paul writes “be transformed” in the passive voice.  This is something that the Holy Spirit does to us.  However, we can resist the work of the Spirit through disobedience and rebellion.  That is why the passive verb is still in the command form!  It could be translated, “Continue to allow yourself to be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

As the Holy Spirit transforms us (metamorphoses), we learn to discern the will of God in our lives.  We are tested in many different ways and as we apply our renewing minds to what we have learned from scripture and from our relationship with God we begin to see what the people who are still in the world cannot see, the will of God.  With the renewing of our minds, our new passion for God and his will, we see the good and acceptable and perfect that God wants us to do.

I continue to be amazed at the love and goodness of God who does not leave us on our own to become righteous.  He does the transformative work in us!  We can’t even change our own minds so he does that for us as well!