Renewing Your Mind - Renewal as an Act of Repentance
“Search me, oh God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.”
~ Psalm 139:23-24
Would you dare to pray such a bold prayer? What if God answers it? After thirty-one years as a faithful Christian (by God’s grace), I still have so much healing and recalibrating to do in my thinking. This is what we call renewing the mind and it never really ends this side of heaven.
I have to keep asking myself: Am I willing to allow God into the corners of my heart where I’ve kept things hidden from Him? Better question: Am I willing to allow God to reveal the sins and problems that I’m not even aware of yet? The way we think, how we vote, where we live, what we spend our money on, who we pray for, what we’re afraid of, who we consider an enemy, who we won’t let our children marry, why we haven’t forgiven someone, why we don’t trust God, etc. Such revelations are where the renewal of the mind does its most powerful work.
It is the discipleship of the mind and the deconstruction of the things have that affixed themselves to it. It’s the hard work that follows the simple act to receive salvation in Jesus.
Our salvation rescues and recreates us (2 Cor 5:17), the great commission establishes our mission (Matt 28:16-20), but it is the renewal of our mind that transforms us (Rom 12:2).
As we work to reshape our thinking and patterns of behaviour, we are presented with the unredeemed, sinful parts of ourself. In the same way we came to understand our sin and repented, we continue this rhythm of repentance throughout our lives as we encounter aspects of our fallen humanity that still cling to us.
Renewal should lead to Spiritual Fruit
Having an unrenewed mind is not a sin in itself. The fruit that it produces, however, is problematic – as is the fruit it does NOT produce. We should be hoping to see evidence in our lives of the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal 5:22-23). An un-renewed mind still produces fruit, but not the fruits of the Spirit. Love might be hate, gentleness becomes aggression, self-control becomes prodigality. We’re not striving for perfection, but we are cultivating the garden of our minds to be Christ-like. This means we need to do some weeding to remove sinful, worldly mindsets.
The devil never appears in a red suit with a pitchfork. He appears in subtle ways. Quietly and gently turning the ship 1 degree at a time until eventually we’re miles off course. How appropriate it is for Paul to admonish us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:12). We fear God in reverence and sobriety and awe (perhaps we should fear ourselves and our propensity for self-deception and manipulation too). We humbly fear the Lord God and, in obedience, take up the challenge by His grace, to bring every thought into captivity and submission of His will (2 Cor 10:5).
The cycle of repentance
Renewing the mind is an act of return. It is repentance. But while most repentance is bringing to God the sins and mistakes we are aware of, renewing the mind can be a process of revealing our unconscious errors in thinking and judgement so we can be made pure; detaching the impurities that we have allowed to infiltrate the way we view the world. Praise God for his grace that he does not reveal all of these at once! Seeking to renew our minds is an acknowledgement that while we are changed (Col 3:10), we are changing still (Phil 2:12).
We who profess to be Christians are empowered by the Holy Spirit to continually grow and renew our minds until Christ returns; that we should ascend from one stage of glory to another (2 Cor 3:18).
This is not a vain ambition or holy ascent. It is a humble walk, side-by-side with Christ and fellow sojourners, just as the disciples walking on the road toward Emmaus, Jesus brings to light the things we did not see in the dark (Luke 24:13-35).
As Aristotle is often quoted, the unexamined life is not worth living. How much more should the people of God deeply and consistently examine ourselves, our thinking, our lifestyles, and our spiritual dependance on God? How can we approach it intentionally? In my experience, renewal is never a clean and simple process, but it can look something like this:
Revelation
God has to reveal where we need renewing; where our minds are darkened and not in alignment with His truth. Thankfully, our renewal is a process marked by God’s mercy and patience. Often, through reading God’s word He shines a light on something and says, ‘let’s deal with that.’ Other times, a friend, pastor, or mentor points something out. You can even find yourself in one of the many Bible stories, relating to the shortcomings of the people within. The great mercy is that God doesn’t show us everything we need to renew all at once. How insurmountable would that be since it only takes one vulnerable and confronting blind spot to send us into a downward spiral?
No, God in his sovereign mercy and wisdom withholds the waters of truth behind the dam of his shepherd hands; allowing us to bare the tide and begin the process of removing the impurities.
Repentance
Repent for conforming to the world and its ways of thinking, judging, acting, loving, etc. We repent for the bad fruit we have produced, even unknowingly. We repent for deceiving ourselves. We repent for allowing ourselves to be deceived. We repent because we want every part of us to look like Christ, not because of guilt, but because of the love and grace we receive from Him.
Renewal
We replace our thinking patterns, behaviours, and habits with Christ-like living. We do this in community, with the Word, under the Spirit – never alone.
Remember this: A renewed mind will always result in observable fruits of the spirit.
Hate becomes love, despair becomes joy, anxiety becomes peace. And just as repentance for the same sin often needs repeating, it will take the same patient cultivation and grace of God to produce consistent Spiritual Fruit. Don’t be in a rush and don’t be hard on yourself. Have the mind of a farmer, not a factory line worker.
Rest, Repeat
Are we brave enough to pray as the Psalmist did? Search me and know my heart, reveal any wickedness in me. Sometimes, I honestly need a break from growing. It’s painful to look at yourself so deeply all the time and you need to rest. Thankfully, we serve the God of Sabbath and seasons. A tree doesn’t produce fruit year-round. As the farmers of our mind we need to have rest after weeding and harvesting. Otherwise, you will create a pattern of striving and self-loathing; never being good enough, never being satisfied in God’s love and grace. Eventually, it will be time for us to get back to work. We go from glory to glory and ask God to reveal our next opportunity for renewal. And He smiles and takes us by the hand.
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Romans 12:2 ESV
Psalm 51:10 ESV
Proverbs 4:23 ESV
1 Corinthians 2
2 Corinthians 4:16
Ephesians 4:22-24 ESV
Colossians 3:2,10 ESV
Titus 3:5 ESV
1 Peter 1:14 ESV