“Do not conform any longer 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 12:2, NIV)
When the ‘door bell to your mind rings’ what do you do to determine if the guest is going to be invited in?
Don’t you just love the thought that you can transform your own mind by the way you think?
It seems to me I need to be a ‘skilled doorkeeper to my mind’ if I want to metamorphose from old to new? From worldly value living to spiritual living?
Do I even recognize the pattern of the world? If not, how would I metamorphose my mind? Our Holy Father yearns to see His children metamorphosing from limited into limitless wisdom in order to ‘understand His good, pleasing and perfect will for us.’
Whoa, send the old stinking-thinking bugs down the road and invite some ancient wisdom into your mind. Connect to the Holy Spirit and enjoy your days! You have my thoughts and prayers for whatever your need may be to know God’s perfect will for your life.
What do you think?
thedailylily.com 
When the doorbell rings we need to see whose there before we open and allow an undesirable intruder into our minds and not just jump and let enything in. Phillipians 4: 8 NLT has guidelines on screening guests if we want to prtotect our minds from unwanted invaders and pursue a transformed mind. A caterpillar spins a protective cocoon so it can metamorphose into a butterfly.
“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.”
I have the footnotes for this verse in Romans 12: 2: “Paul warned Christians: ‘Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world’ that are usually selfish and often corrupting. Wise Christians decide that much worldly behavior is off-limits for them. Our refusal to conform to this world’s values, however, must go even deeper than just behavior and customs, it must be firmly planted in our mind: ‘Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.’ It is possible to avoid most worldly customs and still be proud, covetous, selfish, stubborn, and arrogant. Only when the Holy Spirit renews, reeducates, and redirects our mind are we truly transformed.”
Sara,
Interesting that you use the word “metamorphose”. I wonder just how long it takes the caterpillar to change into a butterfly, or the tadpole to become a frog? I’m not sure, but I know that it doesn’t happen over night. I had a conversation with someone, this weekend. She was telling me about the way she used to say and do things years ago, and how wrong she was. She said that she believed that maturing has a lot to do with….(our doing it right; instead). My point here is……TIME. It takes time, and like you said here…if “we connect to the Holy Spirit” , we can “reframe our thinking”.
Maybe I should investigate just how long it does take, the caterpillar to become a beautiful butterfly and the tadpole to become a frog??
I have investigated the caterpillar and tadpole via ask.com. I found that with the tadpole it sounds as if the type of species and the environment may dictate, how long it will take the tadpole to become a frog.
With the caterpillar, I found that it also depends on the species. I read where it says, “some may stay in the larva stage (caterpillar) for a year, and may spend a whole winter in the pupa stage (as chrysalis.) The painted lady butterfly (which is one of the most common butterflies in the world) can take as few as 3 weeks to complete its metamorphosis.”
We can take heart that the transforming of the mind is doable or Jesus, by The Holy Spirit, would not inspire Paul to tell us to do it. In another place, 1Cor.2:16…Paul says…”who is wise enough to instruct the Most High? BUT WE HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST, i.e.( if His Spirit is within us.) SO we can renew, retrain and revamp our thinking from stinking to splendid if we persist and resist the worldly thoughts that enter our minds. Resist them and they shall flee!
Because, we have the mind of Christ.
Needles comment, ‘it must be firmly planted in our mind’ makes me think we must have a mind that wants to receive the renewing of the Lord and be determined to nurture that renewing growth which takes some work.
“Worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan and thought.” I Chron 1:28 NLT
“Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.” Matt 22:37
“Do I even recognize the pattern of the world?” Now, this is something to ask ourselves, isn’t it?
If it doesn’t glorify God, then it must be worldly, right?
Needles, I would vote that you are absolutely right. However, if I understand this blog scripture I must have some blind spots that block my view of God’s Glory and all the things that will glorify Him.
So, I must have to put some of my thoughts to a test. Why, do i think this? I may have some excellent thoughts, behavior and speaking in my mind. Yet, when they come out in the presences of others in the Body of Christ they might think, “weird thinking. No wonder girl you are not discerning the perfect will of God for your life, you got Him all mixed up with man’s traditions.” Ouch! Now comes the real work called, ‘get over it.’ OK, I got over it in my mind. Then, along comes the living test and I flunk. Questions remain, I must still be a caterpillar and/or tadpole. Now, maybe I did not or do not understand what happens in the process of metamorphosing. Or, stubbornness says, I knew best all along. It is way to dark and to long in that encasement. So, I will buy my caterpillar body some new clothes and shoes and dress it and people will know that I am a butterfly! The very least a tadpole. Because they have big heads and that seems to always work. Yep, a big head….
That’s a good description Sara of how we buck up against the wisdom of God’s parameters that we are supposed to be live within…it really paints a great caricuture that we we can see.
Oh, NO! You mean I might have to take my new tee shirts back to the store? You mean I don’t look like a butterfly in my new duds? Oh Yeah. I LOOK like a butterfly, all right, but I don’t ACT like one. So back to the drawing board.
Put the new duds aside, apply the Word of God, put on the GARMENT of Praise, put a helmet of salvation on that big head of mine, slip into the shoes of peace and then “walk like a butterfly, sting like a bee” that knows what it’s business is about.
Stubborness is serious and not a character trait we should want to own.
“Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols.” I Samuel 15:23 NLT
The Message Bible phrases it a slightly different way:
“Getting self-important around God is far worse than making deals with your dead ancestors.”
Another poor character trait we must shed is being critics of everything or everyone we see. That is, a constant patter of judging this or that which we think builds up our own egos, not seeing the plank in our own eye. Jesus said, ‘judge not lest you be judged” and if we judge ourselves then we will not have to be judged later by ANOTHER.
Judgment begins in the House of the Lord and i take that to mean….each of us should at all times ‘ check up on ourselves’ as a minister has said so that the Lord will not have to do a big number on us at the appointed time. Sometimes I have to repent 70 x 70, A DAY! Thank God for His mercy.
I think part of being a skilled doorkeeper is to have a good understanding and assurance of what’s behind the door we are keeping. God tells us that He has planted His laws and covenant for living in our heart and mind so we can access and apply it if I understand this scripture correctly.
“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,says the Lord;I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Hebrews 8:10 NLT
Being transformed by the “renewing of your mind.” How is this done? One thing is that WE have to do it. The Holy Spirit can prompt, remind, convict but WE HAVE TO DO IT. Another is that we must take EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE. As soon as a futile thought assails our minds we must capture it in mid-cyberspace and reject it and subject it to the Word of God and what HE has said in His Word about the subject matter of this thought. If it does not line up with the plumb line of the Word of God…reject it. Refuse to think it Think of lovely, good, proper, loving Truths of the Word of God. Submerge that thought and our minds in the blood of Jesus and command that it have no effect on our minds. Sometimes it must be done over and over until the devil flees. Call it what it is. A futile, vain, egotistical, fanciful empty thought that will try to take one under. “Casting down imaginations and every high-handed thought that exalts itself against the knowledge of the truth of the true God, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. ” (2 Cor. 10:5)
Reading further in Romans 12, I saw that it had additional things to instruct us on our use of the mind.
vs 3: “…I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.”
vs. 16 “Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.”
Esteeming others more highly than ourselves can be obscured by a cleverly devised scheme of the devil. Not taking the time to really listen to someone because we think they might stain OUR way of thinking, or that they don’t have anything important to say that could possibly interest us, or being so preoccupied with OUR STUFF that we can hardly abide giving this other person a moment of conversation….(sometimes that happens with old folks who just need to talk a little but we’re so importantly busy that we couldn’t possibly take a moment to listen and maybe encourage or gently introduce a joyful phrase or compliment, or word of congeniality into their lives.
“…old folks who just need to talk a little but we’re so importantly busy that we couldn’t possibly take a moment to listen…”
I know an 81 year old man where people wait in line to listen. I knew an 89 year old lady where people waiting in line and begged for her to speak. I get the point that all too often we don’t listen but most often we have nothing to say of value when we would if we put a little effort into it.
I believe we all old or young have some responsibility for what we say or don’t say. The Holy Spirit always at work in a person when they invite Him sure has the very best advantage viewing in order to give us something to say when we need or want to say it.
Hey Debi, the verse you have quoted gives a real big ad sign that says, ‘associate with the humble.” Gee, I think there are many people waiting in line to associate with a humble person. Hey, find me some! to associate with
“… glorify God, then it must be worldly,..” Needles, what ID do we carry that identifies what we say, do or are glorifies God?
Maybe one of the reasons people want to line up to speak and be with a humble person is because God says He dwells with them and being in their presence seems healthy and wholesome….like a drink of fresh, clean spring water.
“I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble.” Isaiah 57:15 NLT
Debi, your description sounds like we have a tea party with Holy Spirit and friends when we are humble and exhibit this trait.
Amen Debi,
The 81 year old man and 89 year old women were full of humbleness and the love of learning about JESUS. These two topics are mentioned 16 times in the bible. Something we all want to strive for.
Matthew 23: 12 Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible
Whosoever shall exalt himself, etc. – The way to arrive at the highest degree of dignity, in the sight of God, is by being willing to become the servant of all. Nothing is more hateful in his sight than pride; to bring it into everlasting contempt, God was manifest in the flesh. He who was in the likeness of God took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man, and humbled himself unto death. After this, can God look upon any proud man without abasing him? Spiritual lordship and domination, ecclesiastical luxury, pomp, and pride, must be an abhorrence in the sight of that God who gave the above advices to his followers.
Another lesson, which our blessed Lord teaches here, is, that no man is implicitly to receive the sayings, doctrines, and decisions of any man, or number of men, in the things which concern the interests of his immortal soul. Christ, his Spirit, and his word, are the only infallible teachers. Every man who wishes to save his soul must search the Scriptures, by prayer and faith. Reader, take counsel with the pious; hear the discourses of the wise and holy: but let the book of God ultimately fix thy creed.
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. The way you change your life is one thought at a time.
Philippians 2:5KJB “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus…” It takes some deep meditative thinking to have unity of mind with Christ and His church. It takes daily action to stand against evil. An elephant will take one foot and knock us out in the first round if we are not skillfully trained in the mind before we take the floor to coexist with him. Take a look at the first thoughts of a skilled elephant trainer:
“A good elephant keeper or animal trainer has to slip into the elephant’s skin. He has to feel and to behave like an elephant. For this purpose he has to know the animals very well. He needs the powers of observation, sensitivity, determination and a sound severity. First of all he should see how elephants behave among each other, how they resolve conflicts, how they quarrel and fight.”
The author (s) of James seem to have developed keen skills of observation, etc of quarrels, conflicts and fights in the church. Some of the answers and help I see for correcting/training looks like are found here: exercising humility; having a thought(s) focused on God; a love for God; learning to pray in accordance with God’s will; and being obedient to His will.
“Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “ God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:1-6
In reading a teaching entitled “ON THE CALL TO LIVE BY THE WORD OF GOD using the Scripture that Paul wrote in 1Cor.2:16….BUT WE HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST” Milton Stanley writes, quote…
“Paul has the mind of Christ. There’s a wonderful, supernatural power in sharing in Christ’s mind, Christ’s heart. There’s power in that fellowship. And the wonderful news is that it’s available to every Christian. Of course, like Paul, we don’t find that strength by puffing ourselves up. Only when we confess our own weakness and quit making ourselves the message can we proclaim Christ not only in our words but in our lives. That’s true, healthy, godly, humility. That’s the kind of discipleship God wants of his people. That’s
the way we ought to live.”
This seems to echo the sentiments of this blog about humility and its
attracting others, not to US but to the message that we speak and MANIFEST in our lives.
In a simile, I think that eating an elephant is similar to eating the Word of GOD. It is a gargantuan task, but just as Sara says, one bite at a time, so the Word of God says, “Precept upon precept, Word upon Word, line upon line, here a little, there a little.” ( Isaiah 28:10) One thought at a time, as Sara says. and we begin to transform our minds.
John 15:15 says, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
IN His Word is THE MIND OF CHRIST
This is a very interesting blog. We must train the doorman to our minds what thought to let in and what thought to shut the door on. When the doorbell rings if the doorman opens the door and sees something that is not of God, the doorman needs to close the door and not allow that thought in our minds. When the doorbell rings and the doorman answers the door and sees the thought is of God then the doorman will allow the thought to enter. Allowing the Holy Spirit to be the doorkeeper will keep our minds pure which brings peace and life. Romans 8:6 “So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.” If we allow the doorman to our mind to be our sinful nature, we will die.
One can see the seriousness of trained guarding from your comments chickenfarmer.
Proverbs 4 gives us a couple of training tips also.
“Hold on to instruction, do not let it go;
guard it well, for it is your life.” (vs 13)
“Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.” (vs 23)
David said in Psalm 84:10, “I’d rather be a doorkeeper (door GUARD) in the temple of my God, than to dwell in the mansions of sinful men”
This speaks to me thus: We ARE the temple of the Holy Spirit (GOD) so it is up to us to guard this temple with all diligence to see that it is not destroyed by sin, corruption, disrepair. Paul said, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.” 1Cor. 3:16-17 So we must Guard ourselves as the Scriptures that Debi quoted above admonish to do.
Sara wrote above, ‘Connect to the Holy Spirit and enjoy your days!’
I think this passage from the Message Bible expresses this and tells us how to do it.
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matt 11:28-30