[Proverbs 23:7] “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he:” When we change our thinking we change our life. Before we were saved we thought negatively, but now we are saved we are committed and commanded to change our concepts – “and be renewed in the spirit of your mind” [Ephesians 4:12]. Because we are justified, redeemed, forgiven, reconciled and adopted we CAN change our ways and thinking. The Holy Spirit is able to help us [John 16:13] “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.”
We pick up influences constantly from other people, and our mentors mould our lives. Even if we reject what we have seen in others we are still responding automatically. When we come to Jesus we have the ability, through the Spirit, to unload all those negative programmes which have been stored on the hard disc of our memory. We can now live optimistically for we have the divine re-programmer at our disposal.
We are formed in our thinking by the time we march on life, and all through infant, adolescence and teenage years we have formed an indelible opinion that is time-warped in our personality. From that point on, we live on auto-pilot, and thus influence all that we have in Christ, causing us to fluctuate in our lifestyle.
The Bible has the answer. God has not made us “sons of God” as an arbitrary position but has given us the Spirit of power for a purpose. The WORD puts it this way: [Romans 12:2] “And be not CONFORMED to this world: but be TRANSFORMED by the RENEWING OF YOUR MIND, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Paul writing to Timothy states that we are saved not only by an act of God’s righteousness, but by a constant work of the Spirit: [Titus 3:5] “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and RENEWING OF THE HOLY GHOST;” This “renewing” is a constant thing not a once and for all act, never to be repeated.
To renew your mind is not to educate the memory, the judgement or the perception but to change the whole mental outlook, the “spirit” of our mind. It is the programme which works and operates all we do. It is the preconditioning that affects our memory, judgement and perception and colours all our thinking about Christ and His kingdom.
When we commit ourselves to Christ, there is more to life than attending church, although that is important, but a new lifestyle to enjoy. We live between services not for them, and the ministry of life becomes dynamic as we develop a positive lifestyle that reflects our sitting at the King’s top table. We are His sons, and clothed in the finery of salvation we live, act and respond from that standpoint. We have not been born sons of the King to live at subsistence level, for when we met Jesus, He transformed our natural birth, by a new birth and we are now framed ready to live differently – but will we?
