Being a Jesus Follower means obeying His teachings, loving others, and growing spiritually. Our human nature sometimes gets in the way though, and we fight a continual battle with who we were versus who God created us to be. That struggle is exhausting.
God’s solution for our problems is not just to pray more. Don’t get me wrong, prayer is vital. But we must do MORE. Romans 12:2 offers us God’s solution: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Wow! If we renew our minds, we will be transformed. If we renew our minds, we will understand God’s will for our lives. Philippians 4:8-9 goes on to tell us that God’s peace will be with us if we renew our minds.
There are three significant scriptures that talk about renewing our minds: Romans 12:1-2, Philippians 4:8-9, and Hebrews 3:1. All say YOU when talking about who must renew the mind. None tells us that prayer will do it. None tells us God will do it for us. This is an action we must take if we want to know His will, dwell in His peace, and transform our lives.
Philippians 4:8-9 contains 8 specific areas we need to focus on if we want to renew our minds.
1. We must fill our minds with truth, God’s truth—His Word.
2. We must look for the noble.
3. We must understand what is right.
4. We must know what is pure.
5. We must appreciate and love what is lovely.
6. We must seek the truly admirable.
7. We must acknowledge excellence.
8. We must give praise where praise is due.
That’s not all though. Not only do we fill our minds with these things, we have to put them in practice in our lives. Renewal is not just learning and surrounding ourselves with biblical truth; it is living out that biblical truth.
When you are making a decision, if your chosen path fails the test of being true, or noble, or right, or pure, then stop. Turn your thoughts toward God’s Word and the path laid out for us there. Put off the old way of thinking and develop a new, biblical, way of thinking.