By The RENEWing of Your Mind – Guest Post by Corby Stephens
Romans 12:1-2 is perhaps one of the best condensed passages that describe what it means to live out the gospel.Â
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (NKJV)
You have the living sacrifice of the cross as we are in Christ. You have a life that is in, but not of, this world. You have the old life becoming new as the result of new thinking.
You have all of this then put into practice in such a way that itâs a demonstration of the good and complete will of God.
Very heady stuff. Sounds amazing, but how do we do this? What does it look like? It isnât a list of âdo these specific actionsâ and âdonât do these.â Itâs about new patterns. Itâs about learning how to evaluate your everyday actions in light of these things.Â
To help me remember a way to make these evaluations, I came up with an acronym based on the word RENEW that encompasses these two verses.
Release
This has to do with presenting our bodies, ourselves. The word âpresentâ in context means to present and keep on presenting. In fact, the rest of this passage is a description of what it looks like to present ourselves. We need to look at what we need to release to the Lord as a sacrifice. Most of the time we donât know we are holding something back that we need to Release. Iâll bet if we ask Him He will tell us.
We can ask ourselves, âWhat did I keep back from The Lord this week that I need to make available to Him?âÂ
Evaluate
âDo not be conformed to this world.â I love that word âconformed.â Itâs a word picture of a malleable material like Pla-Doh. Pla-Doh can be conformed into just about any shape. The world has a shape. If we are intentionally or otherwise being pressed into the world, we will take on the worldâs shape. Paul tells us to not let that happen.Â
We can ask ourselves, âWhat about me this week was shaped more like the world and less like Jesus? Can it be reshaped, or do I need to get rid of it?â
Notice
âBut be transformed.â Instead of being Pla-Doh we are to be transformed into something else entirely. The classic illustration of this is a caterpillar into a butterfly, which to me is still an amazing thing to watch. Itâs noticeable. Maybe not immediately, but over time it becomes very apparent.
We can ask ourselves, âWhat did I do this week that was less like the old me and more like Jesus in me?â
Exchange
âBy the renewing of our minds.â The mechanism of our transformation is the renewing of our minds. As we Exchange old ways of thinking for Godâs new ways of thinking, as we Exchange how we process the events in and around our lives, we are being transformed into something new (see 2 Corinthians 5:17).
We can ask ourselves, âHow was my thinking changed this week and how was that reflected in changed actions, or reactions?â
Walk
âThat you may prove and do the will of God.â To prove something means to demonstrate the truth of the thing. It means to live it out because itâs true, not try to find evidence and academically provide proof of it. Godâs will is good. Godâs will is perfect, complete, not lacking anything. Paul is telling us that our lives are to be a demonstration that Godâs will is good and lacks nothing.
We can ask ourselves, âWhat does God want me to learn from Him and then live out this week? How can I demonstrate the reality of what God is doing in me?â
Hopefully this helps provide others with some practical tools to live out the gospel.Â
RENEW is a part of the Sunday process found in The Rhythm Journal which is something I originally developed for myself and decided to share with others. It is currently on Kickstarter, but the campaign ends Friday, November 10th and Noon Pacific time. If you are interested in more patterns and rhythms you can develop in your life, please check it out and consider backing a journal or two. Thanks, Michael, for the chance to share again.
Pretty good acronym to think on…
IMO and FWIW… renewing one’s mind is not totally introspective … sorting out life with the posts and comments here on the PhxP, with so many God fearing and honest viewpoints, can go a long way to renewing one’s mind – one’s focus and thus in time one’s perspective – seeing things as God sees them just isn’t natural ?
I just pledged for the PDF. Thinking about using this tool as a New Year’s jump start for people in our church.
Corby, I had one question though. when all was said and done, I signed in through Facebook. I’m not sure which email address you would be sending the PDF to? If you know the answer, could you let me know via email: kurt@cdabible.org.
Thanks!
Never mind. They sent me a receipt so now I know where to look for it!
My life was transformed by a similar type of journaling system. Looking forward to seeing some more life change. In my life, as well as others.
I’ve always had a beef with Corby and that is he’s pretty consistently never joined-in any of the church’s jihads, including the 3-way within CCs.
What kind of pastor just focuses on Jesus!
He should be voted-off the island!
: )
John 20:29 – I agree!
PH – Were you thinking of having your own printed using the PDF? I probably should have specified that the PDF was for personal use not mass production. If you want to have a number of them printed I’m sure we could come to an arrangement. I would also be able to offer custom covers if that’s of interest.
UnCCed – You so, kind? đ
Corby is getting close to his goal… if this interests you now’s the time to sign up!
Ha ha, Corby! Yes, I was thinking of printing up some copies!
When I get mine, I’ll give it a personal test drive and see how it fits. From there I’ll contact you and maybe figure out a plan.
Or I’ll just order some from you.
Now, if you can, go fix the wording at Kickstarter! đ
PH – Can’t edit wording once people have selected it as a reward. Check your email. I’ve sent you one after the first one I sent a little bit ago.
Well okay. Hopefully I’m the only knucklehead to think like I did. đ
Just checked the Kickstarter…you’re almost there!
It funded! Thanks!