THE RENEWED MIND

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will Romans 12:1-2.

The renewed mind is the mind of the Spirit. The carnal mind is the opposite of the renewed mind. It is possible to have this mind contrary to what some may think. Romans 12 is one of the most quoted verses in Christendom but do we know what it is about, do we know how to get it and what is the significance of the renewed mind? By God’s grace I hope to answer these questions so that the next time you hear these verses, they will be real to you.

THE RENEWED MIND IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY

It is not God who will renew your mind, it is you. This is where majority of us got it wrong. We fast and pray for God to renew our minds but that’s not on Him. It’s on us. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. It is up to you not to conform to the pattern of this world. It is up to you be transformed by renewing your mind. It is your choice. God doesn’t do it for you. You have to make that effort. You have to take responsibility. It is available to those you are interested. According to Mike Murdoch, the proof of desire is pursuit. Pursue the renewed mind.

HOW TO GET THE RENEWED MIND

One of the books that has blessed me is the book, Plans, Purposes and Pursuits by Kenneth E. Hagin. Every Christian should read that book. In that book, he explained that Christians have to pursue the plan of God for the purpose of God. That is actually how to renew your mind. You pursue the revealed will of God with the intentions of God. Let’s take ministry for an example, a lot of preachers do ministry which is actually the will of God for their lives but their purpose for doing ministry does not align with God’s purpose for which He created ministries. It’s the same with marriage, raising children, money, work etc. The way to get the renewed mind is to grab the scriptures and study to know the mind of God. When we have found the mind of God and aligned ourselves to it and practice it, our minds are renewed. You can only renew your mind with the scriptures and scriptural teachings of sermons and books. You need this balance in your life if you want to do well as a Christian. Please note I am talking of in-depth study not a 1-minute bible reading. It is only by studying that we show ourselves as approved servants of God. You can’t walk with God with common sense or societal morals. God’s ways are far from these. Any idea you have in life which cannot trace to the scriptures is a pattern of this world. Do not assume.

THE RENEWED MIND IS AN ENTIRETY

Please follow me closely here and pay attention because this is very important. The word of God is a total package. It is why you can’t take what you like and leave out what you do not like. God and Jesus always emphasized this. Let’s look at a few scriptures:

⁷ “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. ⁸ Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful (Joshua 1:7-8).

This too…

If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth (Deuteronomy 28:1).

And this….

¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).

Notice the words in bold here. The word is a total package. God always emphasized the word “all”. It is all or nothing. That is why James said if one breaks a particular law of God he has broken all the law because it is a whole package. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it (James 2:10). I am sure you get the point now. We have already emphasized the role of the word of God in renewing the mind. The main point I am getting at is this, if the word of God is a total package, then the renewed mind is a total package. There’s no such thing as a half-renewed mind. It is not possible. The renewed mind is an entirety. You either have it or you don’t. With this understanding, you realize that no one living has a renewed mind. That is what we mean when we say we are not perfect and we are working towards perfection. Until we find and obey all the word of God for our lives both written (general) and spoken (specific), our minds aren’t renewed. We have not attained perfection. We have not been transformed. That is why Paul said in Philippians 2 that he has not attained perfection but rather he is striving for it.

THE DESTINATION OF THE RENEWED MIND

The renewed mind is not the end. It is only a pathway. It is a pathway to the full knowledge of God. The knowledge of God is the goal of the Christian life. This is not the same as knowing Jesus is Lord or that there’s a God. I see people arguing about the existence of God and I pity them. It is a major way by which Satan distracts many people. He keeps them on that level making sure they never advance from there. God wants us to know Him. It is His utmost desire. It is the direction He wants every saved person to face. It must be your main focus. It must be the quest of your heart otherwise you will backslide. The truth is, this is Satan’s main target in all of his attacks. Real enemies are not interested in attacking you when you are sleeping. Real enemies don’t have time to be calling your name in the shrine. Only babies do such things. Real witches and wizards will fight you through temptations to make sure that you don’t achieve this knowledge of God when your life is said and done. When the mind is completely renewed, eternal life is gained.

³ Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent (John 17:3).

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14).

The high calling is eternal life, the complete knowledge of God. It is the reason Christ took hold of us. We haven’t taken a hold of it yet. We must press toward this goal. To reach this goal, we must have a completely renewed mind. To attain to this knowledge of God, the mind must be renewed and for the mind to be renewed, we need to find the word of God and obey it.