Living in SalvationSample

The Renewing of the Mind

Romans 12:2 And do not be 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. (NKJV)

“Do not be conformed to this world,” in other words, do not let the world form your thinking and acting. The Greek word for "be conformed" is suschématizó- assuming a similar outward form (expression) by following the same pattern (model, mold).

God gives us the blueprint for living a transformed life, and He starts by telling us to not let the world create our thinking patterns. He then tells us to allow Him to create the rhythms through which we think.

The Bible tells us that all of our words and actions derive from our thinking, therefore a transformed life starts with a transformed mind. (Proverbs 23:7, Luke 6:45)

The Apostle Paul then conveys to us the Godly process to step into and steward this newness of life granted to us through Christ’s work on the cross, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

If we look at the word, “be transformed,” in Greek, we see the word, metamorphoó- metá, change after being with and "changing form in keeping with inner reality.” This word metamorphoó is where we get our English word metamorphosis from.

Here is the definition of our English word metamorphosis, a change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one, by natural or supernatural means.

Our outward transformation unfolds per the renewing of our mind. What we fill our minds with matters because it creates the lens through which we see God, ourselves, and the world.

The more we meditate on the reality of what Jesus did on the cross, the more His finished work manifests in our lives. The more we fill our minds with the fact that we are brand new creations in Him, the more our new creation identity will come to the surface of our lives.

Prayer

Holy Spirit, fuel my self-control and guide me into a mental diet that enriches the renewing of my mind. God, I ask that you would convict me of consuming a mental diet that works against the renewing of the mind and Your transformed life in me.