Embracing Who God Created You To BeShembull

Renewing your mind

We are constantly being bombarded by messages about who we are: what we should look like, how we should behave – even what we should think. Advertisers and politicians flourish through these messages, but, sadly, those things can drown out the messages that God has for us about who we are.

Actually, the messages begin as soon as we are born. Our caregivers (whether our parents or other adults) begin to tell us who we should be and how we should behave. This is actually something that the Bible tells them to do: ‘Start children off on the way they should go’ (Proverbs 22:6). Unfortunately, psychologists have discovered that it is the negative messages that we internalize most readily, and our own inner critic will continue to convey the negativity to us even when we are adults.

Add to that the constant messages all around us, the huge impact social media can have on our sense of self – oh, and the messages the devil likes to drop in – and it is easy to see how God’s Word to us can be drowned out!

We are often not aware of how much of an influence our upbringing and surrounding culture can have on us, as it seems to be the ‘norm’. However, as Christians, we are called to be counter-cultural – to look to the Bible for advice on how to live our lives, rather than simply being sucked into our culture’s way of doing things.

It is so vital that we take time to read Scripture daily, to really soak in the truths that God says about us. The Scriptures chosen for today explain further why God instructs us to ‘renew our minds’. This includes embracing the fact that God tells us we are now ‘new creations in Christ Jesus’ so we absolutely can ‘take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ’ (2 Corinthians 10:5), as well as stopping behavior that does not reflect who we are as children of God.

Reflect:  It is really helpful to begin to cultivate the discipline of checking our thoughts every so often, to see what it is that we spend time dwelling on. Otherwise we simply don’t filter what we allow ourselves to view, read, etc. – and become negatively influenced. Why not try putting an hourly alarm on your phone/computer to help you start to do this?