April 24

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” — ROMANS 12:2

When I was a boy I was led to believe that worldliness had to do with things like the clothes you wore, the length of your hair, the kind of music you listened to and the movies you watched. Of course, all those can be worldly, but worldliness is defined in the New Testament not as something external, but as something inside us. John says that worldliness is ‘the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life’.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking the world is out there. The real influences of the world are already inside us, originating in our hearts and minds. Our minds are crucial in the process of living the life we are called to live. As Christians, we have been made regenerate by a miracle of God in our hearts and made holy by a process that includes our minds.

This is why repentance is crucial. The Greek word for repentance is ‘metanoia’, which means to change the mind (‘meta’ to change and ‘noia’ the mind). We change our minds about God, ourselves, about sin, the way we live, about our meaning and significance, our responsibilities and our role in life. All these aspects come into play and in this adjusting of our minds to the mind of God, we become regenerate - born again and made new by the indwelling Spirit of Christ. As our minds are renewed, we begin to think about the world the way God thinks about the world.

However, there is something far deeper than the activity of our minds, and that is the attitude of our hearts. The mind is our place of understanding, but the heart is our disposition towards life, people and God. In the Bible, the heart combines the mental and the moral. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words says that the heart is used figuratively for the deep, hidden springs of the personal life. What we know in our minds is filtered through the disposition of our hearts.

The heart is the throne room of our lives, and when indwelt by the Spirit of God, the kind of living that flows out will be a work in progress that expresses the righteousness and holiness of God.

PRAYER: Dear Heavenly Father, What an incredible gift it is to have been regenerated and indwelt by your Spirit. Thank You for renewing my mind and my heart to conform with yours, and for your ongoing work of transforming me to reflect your righteousness.

TO REFLECT UPON: In what areas of my life has the renewing of my mind and heart been affected the most?