How do I know this? Because God has changed the trajectory of my life by renewing my mind! It all began when I first started reading the book of Romans for myself, as an adult, almost twenty-five years ago.
I wasn’t in the pit of despair. I didn’t hate myself or my life. I didn’t even know I was headed in a direction that was about to destroy me. But as I began reading the book of Romans, starting with chapter 1, God began answering questions that I had had on my heart for a long time. He began speaking to me through the words on the pages in such a clear and convincing way that I knew it had to be God that was speaking to me.
The things I read caused me to reevaluate my life, what I had been doing so far, and what I wanted to do in the future. In the weeks that followed, God so changed my thinking that I finally came to the point where I was willing to put my faith and trust in His Son Jesus Christ for everything in my life: for the forgiveness of my sins, for the direction of my life, for my job, my body, my finances, my future—everything that was a part of me. I gave it all to Him.
Now, almost twenty-five years later, I am in an entirely different place than I would have been had I stayed on the path I was on. Even though I didn’t realize at the time the direction my life could have taken, God knew—and He wanted to spare me from it. He picked me up, turned me around, and put me on a new path—a path that was headed towards an abundant and eternal life.
And how did this life-change all get started? It started with an idea. A thought. A thought that maybe God was right and I was wrong. A thought that maybe if I were to truly follow God with my whole heart, that no matter where He led me, He would take me places that I could never have gone on my own. A thought that if I trusted Him completely, if He really loved me, if He cared for me deeply, and if He knew what was best for me, then He would always lead me down a path that was in my best interest and His—even if I didn’t understand it at the time.
Ideas are powerful. In the Academy Award-nominated movie, Inception, the main character asks an intriguing question to a guest who has joined him for dinner. He asks: “What is the most resilient parasite? A bacteria? A virus? An intestinal worm?”
As his guests chokes on his food after hearing that last statement, the main character then answers his own question by saying:
“An idea. An idea is like a virus. Resilient, highly contagious. Once an idea’s taken hold in the brain it’s almost impossible to eradicate.”
Later on in the movie, he states this premise once again, and then adds this powerful statement:
“And the smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can grow to define…or destroy you.”
Ideas have started revolutions of all kinds—both good and bad. The U.S. was started with a revolutionary idea back in 1776. But so were the terrorist attacks that killed so many of our people back in 2001.
Some of the ideas that have been planted in our minds are great. They should be be nourished and fed. But other ideas that have taken root in there aren’t so great. They probably need to be rooted out and destroyed, before they destroy us.
I’ve been talking with some friends who grew up having had seeds of faith planted deep within them when they were young—seeds which were watered regularly as they got older. But somewhere along the way, other people have planted doubts in their minds, doubts that have cropped up and overshadowed their faith. Doubts that have grown so large that you can hardly tell that they ever had a seed of faith at all. Unfortunately, they have taken to watering and nurturing these doubts—by the books they read, the shows they watch, and the people around which they have surrounded themselves.
And yet I know those seeds of faith were once there, and I believe they are still are! I was there when some of those seeds were planted. I was there as they were being watered. I even did some of the watering myself.
But sometimes things happen to us along the way, things that happen to us and things that we do to ourselves, that cause those good seeds within us to get crowded out and wither, letting the bad seeds grow wild and unhindered.
It might seem like there’s no way out once this cycle begins to happen. It might seem like people have gone too far down the wrong path—that they’ll never be able to change. But that’s a lie!
The truth is, God can change people’s hearts and minds in an instant. He can turn any life around on a dime. He can restore the years that have been taken away and put people back on the right path—His path—the path that leads to an abundant and eternal life.
But how? How can God do it? How can He transform us into the people He wants us to be—and into the people that we truly want to be, too?
The Apostle Paul gives us an idea in the book of Romans—several, in fact! He wrote this letter to those who believed in Jesus in the city of Rome, about 25 years after Jesus died and rose again from the dead. After spending over half the letter describing the difference between a godly life and an ungodly one, Paul said:
“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” (Romans 12:1-2).
What Paul said to the Romans is the same thing God is saying to us today: we’re not to conform to the pattern of this world—the worldly way in which things are done, but which inevitably lead towards death and destruction. Instead, God wants us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Why? Because then we’ll be able to know God’s will for our lives—to test and approve it for ourselves—His good, pleasing and perfect will! What a blessing that would be in any of our lives—to know God’s will!
In the weeks ahead, I’ll be exploring with you several of Paul’s many ideas for how to renew your mind, from how you think about yourself, to how you think about God and the people and situations God has placed in your life.
For some of you, this will be a new and exciting adventure into territory you’ve never explored before. For others of you, you may feel like you’ve tried so many things to change the direction of your life—and not yet found the secret to successfully doing it—that you may be skeptical that this will help either. But take courage: God would still love to renew your mind, too!
I remember seeing some flowers that our friend and neighbor Mary Lou planted in her front yard. They were called impatiens, and they grew into these huge bushes, bursting with color. My wife and I decided to plant some in our own yard. We planted them in the right spot and we watered them regularly, just like the instructions said to do. But no matter what we did, our impatiens hardly got more than a few inches tall, while Mary Lou’s were flowing over and out of her planter boxes.
We couldn’t figure out what was wrong until we asked her if she had a secret. It wasn’t a secret, she said, but she did use Miracle Grow, a type of fertilizer that would help the plants grow to their fullest potential!
My goal in this study is to give you a little bit of Miracle Grow from time to time—in the form of faith—a burst of faith that you can use to grow to your fullest potential, too. Oftentimes we try to do things all by ourselves. We may be doing the exact same things as other people around us, but you would hardly know it by the results. While sometimes it may just be the season that God has for us, oftentimes it’s because we’re missing out on the key ingredient—faith! Faith to believe that God can really do all that He says He can do in our lives! And as Jesus said, even just a little bit of that stuff has the power to move mountains!
For some of you, moving a mountain is just about what you need right now. As we go through this study, I’ll be sharing some stories from my own life, as well as some stories from the Bible and from Christians throughout the ages that I pray will boost your faith. I pray they’ll give you a burst of energy that will help you to keep pressing forward and keep moving in the direction that God has in mind for you.
For today, let me encourage you to simply begin seeking the Lord for His wisdom. As you do, you’ll find that He’ll be glad to pour out His thoughts into your mind. As God says in the book of Isaiah:
Seek the LORD while He may be found;
call on Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way
and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn to the LORD,
and He will have mercy on him,
and to our God, for He will freely pardon.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways My ways,”
declares the LORD.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways
and My thoughts than your thoughts.
As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is My Word that goes out from My mouth:
It will not return to Me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
(Isaiah 55:6-11)
God would love to renew your mind. He would love to pour out His wisdom upon you like rain from heaven, refreshing your soul as He does. He would love to feed and nourish those ideas that will come to define you, and root out and destroy those that could possibly destroy you.
In the weeks ahead, I pray that God will transform your life by renewing your mind. For those of you who are interested, I’ve also included some additional scripture readings below, along with some questions that you can use for personal reflection or group discussion, if you’d like to invite some friends to study this material along with you.
Either way, I pray that God will use this time to renew your mind in powerful ways, transforming your life along the way. I’m looking forward to it myself, and I hope you are, too!
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