October 18
“…be transformed by the renewal of your mind…” (Romans 12:2)
God is a God of instantaneous action. Of effective work. Of completed action.
That’s what Jesus came to show us. His miracles were not partial miracles, or gradual miracles, or delayed miracles. He spoke, He acted… and it was done.
The King came to walk among us and show us what happens when His work invades our lives. Miracles happen. Transformations occur. And they reflect the power of the Creator Who spoke everything into existence with His words.
But if it is true that the work of our transformation has already been done – why are we still struggling with thoughts and actions that do not reflect that work? Why do we still fall into sin? Why do we still have anger, guilt, and resentment for things that happened in our past? Why are we still afraid? Why do we still doubt?
This is the common struggle for each of us. It is part of the reason for why we need each other – why God put us in a Body of believers.
We need each other’s encouragement. We need to lift up each other, and help each other, and hold each other accountable. But most importantly we need to be constantly reminded of who we are and what we have in Jesus.
But it all begins with a proper understanding. We need to know the fullness of what God has done for us and then we need the renewal of our minds.
We have all been the victims of worldly thinking. Natural thinking. Thoughts that have been formed by our experiences with this world and by our interactions with the people in it. From our first moments of awareness, we have been taught and trained to think as everyone else in this world thinks…
That’s why Jesus came and proclaimed that we must all “repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15 and others) Repentance does not mean to change your actions… it means to change your thinking! What we think leads to what we believe — and to what we do. And Jesus calls us all to leave our old patterns of thinking behind (as we’ve been trained by the world and its ways) and embrace a new way of thinking.
The ultimate thinking outside the box… directly from the God Who dwells outside every box.
If, for example, we think that God is gradually fixing our lives through the years… then that is what we will believe. And any faith we apply to our belief will never produce what we desire for our lives. (We will always be becoming new – and we will never arrive at new)!
But if we align our thoughts with what Jesus has done for us (and which is often expressed in Scripture) we will think of ourselves in line with what God says we are – and apply our faith accordingly. And the transformative power of God will be immediately applied to our lives. Notice in our verse for today… we ARE transformed by the renewal of our minds (we are not becoming transformed!).
Our faith receives what God has provided for us. And He has graciously provided “everything we need for life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3) because we know Him!
TheHeartseeker's Blog 
Amen! Excellent post – and a very timely one for me, too.