“What were they thinking?” My normal answer has been, “That’s the problem, they weren’t thinking.” Yet, I’ve realized that’s not always the case. When we examine the process of thinking, we discover that people may think but simply don’t think like we do. Their process of thinking leads them to a different conclusion. Several other reasons exist today. Because of man’s continuing downward spiral into sin, even refusing to acknowledge God, He gave them over to a depraved mind. This word means their mind has been corrupted and unable to understand. God deemed their thought process as worthless and void of judgment. Such people can’t understand or acknowledge the will of God because they no longer think correctly (Rom 1:28). Another issue happens in the last days because people did not receive the love of the truth . . . God will send upon them a deluding influence [misleading influence, a working of delusion] so that they will believe what is false (2 Thess. 10, 11). Most prevalent today are minds conformed to this world and not renewed by the Holy Spirit. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Rom 12:2).
In the first eleven chapters of Romans, Paul tells us what Jesus accomplished for us. In chapter twelve, he begins his application section. After receiving Christ, we initiate our journey with Him when we present our bodies to Him as a living sacrifice and allow the Holy Spirit to start His work transforming us by renewing our mind. Typically, Christians believe that renewing our minds happens merely through putting in new intellectual information. Thus, new converts start reading and memorizing scriptures. That is an important part, however, it is only one aspect.
In addition to putting in information, the Holy Spirit begins transforming our entire process of thinking; that is how we deal with information and apply it to the way we act and how we relate to others. At birth, the world started molding the way we interpret what enters our thoughts. Every aspect of our past affects who we are and how we view the world around us. The shaping of our cognitive processing takes place through our experiences, our environmental and social surroundings, the teaching we receive (true and false), and our religious upbringing.
The grammar in 12:2 indicates that the renewing of our mind isn’t a onetime experience; it continues throughout life. Beyond putting in biblical truth, converts need new positive experiences. Fellow Christians and the church can facilitate such opportunities. “God loves you,” I told her. With the coldest stare Sherry looked up at me, “Nobody loves me!” She was homeless, a drug addict, a prostitute, with a lifetime of abuse who had never experienced love. An older couple took her into their home and over many months showed God’s love. She repeatedly turned back to her old lifestyle. Each time this couple went and found her, took her back home, forgave her, and never spoke harshly to her. They just poured out true Biblical love. Slowly, through this new experience, the Holy Spirit renewed her thinking. Today she can receive love and give love to others.
Our environmental and social surroundings have a major impact on our thought process. Inuit people living in the Arctic don’t process information like the Bedouins living as nomads in a desert. That’s an extreme example, but today the USA is composed of multiple cultures, each with distinct ways of processing thoughts. Various social surroundings have formed or molded people’s cognitive processing. They are conformed to the world by the thoughts and opinions of those around them through personal contact, social media, peer pressure, etc. Many of the issues we are facing today originate in groups who think differently, who have depraved minds, or who are deceived by misleading influences because they hate the truth.
Peace begins with people receiving the truth through the Gospel. Believers must allow or continue allowing the Holy Spirit to renew their way of thinking. Conforming happens through external pressure. Renewing of the mind happens by the internal working of the Holy Spirit. Our modern word metamorphosis comes from the word Paul used for transformed. In the physical realm, this is the process of a caterpillar becoming a beautiful butterfly. Metamorphosis would be a better translation. Transformation means changed or altered. A caterpillar doesn’t just change. The metamorphosis process dissolves its organ system into a literal soup of fragmented cells and tissues. Nature then turns this into a new creation—a butterfly. The Holy Spirit doesn’t just change us, He makes us into a new person with a fresh way of thinking.
Sustaining Word for the Week: Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform [metamorphose] you into a new person by changing the way you think (Rom 12:2 NLB)