Transform Your Mind || Romans 12:2 || Weekend Wind-Down #24

Welcome to the twenty-fourth week of “Weekend Wind-Down.” This series is where we take the verse of the day, look at the face value interpretation, check the background and context of the verse, do a deeper dive on the focus scripture, and figure out what we can walk away with. 

Today’s verse is Romans 12:2, which says this: 

2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Background

Paul wrote this letter to the Romans to introduce himself and to share his message with the Roman church. Paul is talking about how to behave in this passage. Paul gives clear and practical guidelines for the believers of Rome. For us, it’s a reminder that knowing the Gospel is not enough. We must let it transform our lives and let God impact every aspect.

Deep Dive

Many Christians have said: “I’m not going to act like how most of the world acts.” Yet, our lives need to go deeper than that. Our values need to reflect this refusal. Why? It’s still possible to avoid the world’s way of life and still be proud, jealous, selfish, and stubborn. True change comes from allowing the Holy Spirit to renew, reeducate, and redirect our minds. 

Paul says this Ephesians 4:21-24:

21 Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, 

22 throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 

23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 

24 Put on your new nature, created to be like – God truly righteous and holy.

Because we have left our old way of life when becoming a Christian, we should also leave sin, shame, and regret. Christ’s gift of salvation is a gift that requires both a once-for-all-time decision and a daily commitment. This new nature involves a new way of thinking from the Holy Spirit. 

Why should we put on this new nature? Colossians 3:10-11 gives us our answer. 

10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. 

11 In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are Jew or a Gentile, circumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters and he lives in all of us.

Main point: Our conduct should match our faith. If you claim to be a Christian, then act like it. It’s more than just making good decisions and having good intentions. Being a Christian is filled with godly love, which produces godly actions towards self and neighbor. 

This straightforward step is like wearing new clothes to show off your new style. We throw the old clothes out and wear the new ones. These clothes are a gift from Christ himself. 

The more we learn about Christ and his ministry, the more we become like him. We find the gifts and treasures that he gives us. We need patience, practice, concentration, and evaluation to align with his will.

What should we take away from this?

Take-Home Point

Paul is telling the Roman people to allow God to transform them into a new people. How? By changing the way you think. When this happens, they will find God’s plan for them, described as good, pleasing, and perfect. This verse is the prime example of a word study because Paul is sharing practical steps to transform ourselves into godly. The phrase commonly used is “by the renewing of our mind” instead of “changing the way you think.”

To renew is the Greek word anakainósis (an-ak-ah’-ee-no-sis). This word is a Greek compound word. Ana (an-ah’) is the prefix that means up, again, or back. Kainos (kahee-nos’) means new in quality or fresh in development or opportunity. To put that together: bring up, again, or back something new in quality or fresh development. 

Our mind is the Greek word nous (nooce). This word describes the God-given capacity of each person to think. For us, it’s the organ that receives God’s thoughts through faith. 

So, renewing our minds means changing how we used to think and bringing in a new way of doing things. The change can create a new way of doing things or get a fresh perspective. 

God will transform us into a new person by giving us a new way of thinking about things or developing a fresh mindset. If we do this, we’ll learn God’s will for us. God’s will is good, pleasing, and perfect.

“Will” in this context is the Greek word theléma (thel’-ay-mah). It’s God’s desire. God’s offer to us, which we can accept or reject. What’s the gift? Salvation. Grace. Mercy. We will learn about these things if we change our thinking by being more Christlike. God’s salvation, grace, and mercy are good, pleasing, and perfect.

Good is the Greek word agathos (ag-ath-os’), which means to be intrinsically good. It’s good whether it can be seen as good or not. God’s grace, salvation, and mercy are intrinsically good. God is good. God provides these gifts. Therefore, these gifts are intrinsically good. Pleasing is the Greek adjective euarestos (yoo-ar’-es-tos), which means acceptable and grateful. This word is a compound word that means “well, good” and “to please.” God’s desire for us is acceptable and something to be grateful for. When we renew our minds and find God’s will for us, it pleases God. Perfect is the Greek adjective teleios (tel’-i-os). Perfect is going through the necessary stages to reach an end goal. God’s salvation, mercy, and grace were perfect when Jesus died on the cross for us. 

So, God will transform us by giving us a fresh perspective and a new thinking path. We’ll learn to know God’s desire for us when we change our thinking. God’s desire for us is good in all circumstances, pleasing, acceptable, and perfect through how it got there. Where do we go from there? 

It’s the first part of the verse that I still need to talk about: don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world. Now, it’s more than just the behaviors and just the customs. Some of them may be the same that we would do as Christians, but the difference is our heart posture. Refusing to conform needs to be a part of our values. The Ephesians passage talks about abandoning who we were before we accepted Christ. We are no longer that person. We are changed. It’s not an overnight process and will require healing, wrestling, and more. Yet, it comes from what we’ve discussed – renewing our thoughts and attitudes. We do it once and daily—the Colossians passage talks about how.

Simply put, what we do and say should match our faith. What if my faith is small? Let the small things be made big through what you say and do. What if I don’t have any faith in God? Study the Bible, talk to a preacher, attend church, and immerse yourself in who God is. The more you understand God, the more you will get to know him, and the higher the likelihood of a chance you will accept him in your life. 

Reflect on this throughout the week: Being a Christ is more than just making good decisions and having good intentions. Be filled with Godly love, and you will produce godly actions. 

Thank you for joining me for this Weekend Wind-Down as we explored how to transform our minds to be more Christ-like through the teachings of the Apostle Paul. Stay tuned for the next reflection. Let me close out with prayer. 

Father God, we thank you for your gifts to us. We thank you for encouraging us to transform into the person you’ve called us to be. Lord, help us transform our minds daily. Help us to see ourselves, others, and all situations through the lens of your love. Let your love show in our words and our actions. We love you so much, Lord. It’s in your name, we pray. Amen.