"Renewal of your mind"

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2 ESV

The words that stand out to me in this verse are “renewal of your mind”. Renewal of our minds is what guides us in the right direction. In Christ our minds are renewed, they are brought back to the condition that the Lord has always wanted us to keep them in.

We as sinful people have allowed all sorts of filth and depravity to creep into our minds unnoticed. Just like a neighborhood can fall into disrepair and become a place where decent people no longer live, our minds have become a place where God no longer dwells.

photo  ©2007  Jaro Gielens, Flickr

Paul is calling believers to clean up their  neighborhood. He calls them to be transformed by the renewal of their minds. He is teaching the necessity of having a mind where God can and will live.

In order for our minds to be renewed we must be open to the Spirit's guidance in our lives. We must clean out all the filth and bring in Jesus teachings and our minds will become a place that we can feel good  again.

So today, let’s open our hearts and our minds to God’s word and renew our minds, let’s get involved in cerebral renewal and bring our minds back to the condition they were meant to be in.

© 2013 Leo J. Woodman

Whoever does the will of God

For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

Mark 3:35 ESV

How do we know we are in relationship with Jesus? When we do the will of God. Pretty simple when you think of it. Doing God’s will requires knowing God’s will. Knowing God’s will is knowing Jesus and His teachings.

Studying Jesus and His interactions with His heavenly Father will teach us all we need to know about doing God’s will in our lives. Certainly to know that we are in relationship with Jesus we must be living a life of Obedience to God as He did.

photo  ©2009  Mike Darnell, Flickr

Obedience rubs us the wrong way, we like to think we are autonomous and in no need of outside influence in our lives. But just like little children need to learn obedience to parents to mature properly, we too need to learn obedience to God to mature spiritually.

To be a brother to Christ we must learn obedience as He did... “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on across.” Philippians 2:8 ESV True obedience and relationship with Jesus requires us to hand our lives over to God and trust in Him.

So today, let’s begin anew and give ourselves over to God’s care and trust in Him to  bring us to the place He has prepared for us.

© 2013 Leo J. Woodman