Renewing the Mind

Renewing the mind came to my mind last week when I met with a friend of mine that has been in youth ministry for several years. It seems a couple decades of youth ministry would take its toll on about anyone, and accordingly he was trying to decide what career path God would lead him next. It seems as if everyone is constantly looking for God’s direction, guidance and will. In fact, a few weeks ago I was thinking the same thought, what is God’s will? If I could sum it up in just a sentence or two. Then I was given a wonderful little verse; actually it’s just a ½ of a verse. 

It simultaneously intrigued me and set me back. A very simple short verse: “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified” 1 Thessalonians 4:31 Thessalonians 4:3
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
3 For this is the will of God, [even] your sanctification, that ye abstain from fornication;  

WP-Bible plugin. Wow, it seems God was getting straight to the point with me, however, what in the world does sanctified mean? I asked a few Christian friends and they had no idea. Sanctification is the "process of being made holy (God’s nature) resulting in a changed life-style for the believer" (Holman’s Bible Dictionary). In other words, Sanctification is simply the process of our selves (our being) being transformed to God’s nature and when this occurs then our life (actions) change. It is God’s will that my life (my very essence) is transformed to be and think like Him because when this occurs then my actions will accordingly follow suit.  

STEP #1 WRITE DOWN YOUR UNHEALTHY EMOTION 

We are able to shed some light on how to renew our minds from 2 Corinthians 10:52 Corinthians 10:5
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
5 casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ;  

WP-Bible plugin, “We take captive every thought to make it obedient”. In the Message this passage is explained as “tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ.” In order to identify the thoughts that need to be taken captive we have to identify which thoughts do not line up with God’s Truth. This is rather simple. When we identify unhealthy emotions like anger, judgment, jealously, inadequacy, and perfectionism etc. we can be sure there is a thought creating the emotion lurking. 
 

Imagine when you were five years old if you were riding in backseat of your parent’s car and someone in the lane beside you flipped you off! Would you get mad? Of course not! You wouldn’t even know what “flipped you off” means. However, with the same scenario fifteen years later your emotion would be totally different. Why? Because at age five your thought was, “that’s a weird way to wave at me, maybe I’ll wave back.” However, at age 20 your thought might be to wave back but with very different intentions and certainly with different emotions. Only our thoughts can create our emotions. So if our emotions are unhealthy we can be sure we have a thought that has not been taken captive. Thus, the easiest way to realize a thought has not been taken captive is to write your unhealthy emotion down on paper and then begin the search for the thought that created the emotion that needs to be taken captive.

I used to believe these thoughts creating unhealthy emotions were simply thoughts that didn’t serve me well, however, now I believe every thought that creates an unhealthy emotion is a lie! Although a bold statement, I think you’ll soon agree. We know the fruit of the Holy Spirit, or the work which the Holy Spirit’s presence within us accomplishes is "love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self restraint, continence).” (Galatians 5:22-23Galatians 5:22-23
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ meekness, self-control; against such there is no law.  

WP-Bible plugin). So if I have a thought that creates authentic joy it’s reasonable to believe it is coming from the Holy Spirit, which resides in me. However, if a thought creates negative emotions such as pride, envy, jealousy, anger, strife, arrogance, malice etc. we can be sure the thought is not coming from the Holy Spirit, but from the world. And since the Holy “Spirit is the truth” (I John 5:6John 5:6
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
6 When Jesus saw him lying, and knew that he had been now a long time [in that case], he saith unto him, Wouldest thou be made whole?  

WP-Bible plugin), we can conclude that thoughts that create unhealthy emotions are lies because thoughts that result in emotions opposite of the natural result or fruit of the Holy Spirit cannot originate from God. 

Many times replacing lies with truth can be as simple as writing down the opposite thought of the one identified as a lie. For instance, you may write, “I need to eat less”, in response to your unhealthy emotion of strife. And as a replacement thought you might simply write, “I don’t have to eat less, I can choose to eat more or less, God gives me free will and I enjoy the freedom that comes from God”. Another simple thought you may write that fits this pattern and analogy is, “My spouse should lose weight”, in response to your unhealthy emotion of judgment. As a replacement thought you might write, “Based on the thought patterns, motivation level, and amount of food my spouse devours, my spouse should not be losing a single pound!” I believe it is obvious that the latter thought is not only the truth; it also has the power to dramatically change judgment into acceptance, a characteristic that has an enormous amount of power to influence.

It may seem apparent for those of you who have been down the path of replacing lies with truth that not all thought replacements are as simple as writing the opposite statement. In fact at times it will be imperative for entire paradigms to shift in order to obtain the truth. For example, you may write, “I’m a loser”, in response to your negative emotion of shame towards yourself. Before you write your replacement thought you may have to ask a few questions. For instance, you may ask yourself, “How exactly do I define a loser?” If your answer is, “a loser is someone who people don’t like”, then you have made significant progress. The revelation that, “nobody is liked by everyone” may soon become apparent when you write your answer, and accordingly, you will realize that either everyone is a loser or your definition must somehow be skewed. In fact, as you continue to try and define “loser” you will continually “get stuck”. It is at this point the shift in thinking can occur. A shift from the Spirit.  A moment when we open up to the Spirit and are reminded that when we believe in God and ask Him to be a part of our lives we actually become righteous (the standing acceptable to God). Specifically, it is written the righteousness of God is credited "to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead" (Romans 4:24Romans 4:24
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
24 but for our sake also, unto whom it shall be reckoned, who believe on him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,  

WP-Bible plugin). Thus, if I am a believer it is impossible for me to be a loser, in fact, I become righteous (the standing acceptable to God), and if I’m acceptable to God what makes me think I’m not good enough for myself? Is it reasonable for my conditions of an acceptable self to be higher than God’s? I think not! Now we can document truth. And as a replacement thought you might write, “A loser is an indefinable label that is meaningless for purposes of defining my worth, however, because I believe in God, I have become righteous, acceptable, and loved by the God of the universe”. Once again the replacement thought is true and has the power of God to change our contempt to love.

It is extraordinarily important to realize that the process we have encountered so far is NOT renewing the mind. Although significant progress has been made towards the goal, it is of utmost importance that we are not deceived into believing that replacing lies with truth is the renewal process, it is emphatically not! Replacing lies with truth is revelation not renewal. Revelation is “the content and process of God’s making Himself known to people. All knowledge of God comes by way of revelation” (Holman’s Bible Dictionary). Replacing lies with truth is procuring the knowledge of God (truth) because only truth can come from God. At the point truth is revealed the opportunity for renewal commences. The Greek word for renewing is “anakainosis”. It is important to note that “ana” as a prefix means repetition, intensity, and reversal (Strong’s Hebrew & Greek Dictionary). It is the intense repetition of Truth that causes reversal from lies to truth to occur within us and this process is the renewing of the mind. We must never underestimate the power and importance of intense repetition in the process of renewing our minds.