I listened to a sermon by Tim Keller this morning. Before I get into what Keller said, though, allow me to share the verse I was meditating on before I listened to Keller. The verse is:
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2 ESV
As I meditated on this verse this morning, I was first struck by the command, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” This is something Paul was telling the Romans to do.
As I went on in my meditation, I began to realize that the patterns of this world and the renewal of our minds are influenced by agents “outside” of us. We either allow ourselves to be conformed to the patterns of this world, or we allow ourselves to be transformed by the renewal of our minds. The patterns of this world and/or the renewal of our minds by God’s Spirit are influences on us that we can reject or embrace.
We have a choice to make, but the choice is in the allowing, in the submitting either to the patterns of this world or to the renewing of our minds by the Holy Spirit. It is something that happens to us that we can choose to participate in (or not).
The HELPS Word study (on biblehub.com) for the Greek word, sysxēmatízō, explains that “be conformed to the patterns of the world” means to be identified with those patterns and to assume a similar outward expression by following the same patterns. This conformance may happen consciously or unconsciously.
Paul is urging us to be conscious, to be mindful and intentional, in resisting conformance to the patterns of the world and to submit ourselves to the renewal (the transformation (metamorphóō)) of our minds by the influence of God’s Holy Spirit.,
The Greek word translated as “renewal” means literally metá “change after being with” and morphóō “changing form in keeping with inner reality”. The transformation Paul means is a metamorphosis. Like the caterpillar that changes into a butterfly, this is something that happens to us (within us), but only if we submit to it – only if we do not resist it and we allow it to happen.
We will be influenced one way or the other. We will conform to the patterns of this world unless we resist them. We will not be transformed by the renewal of our minds unless we choose to submit ourselves to God’s renewal process that is the work of the Holy Spirit.
My first thoughts focused on the fact that this is something that we do or do not do. We are acted on by outside agents either way. Yes, we participate in our own condition, but our participation is merely a matter of what we choose to respond to and yield ourselves to.
Continue reading “What Does It Mean to Be Transformed By the Renewal of Your Mind?”
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