Do not conform 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)
I often post about discussions from the Sunday morning class I teach with my good friend, Charles Willard. This past Sunday we enjoyed a most excellent conversation about transitions, and how change can be a powerful catalyst for positive growth.
Part of the study (and, believe me, it really did apply to the topic at hand) concerned brain science, and the way that neural/limbic pathways constantly adapt and re-process in response to varied and ever-changing stimuli.
Our study referenced authors Lewis, Amini, and Lannon in A General Theory of Love (143-144)), who made the following observation, “In a relationship, one mind revises another; one heart changes its partner…” and, “Who we are and who we become depends, in part, on whom we love.”
My class was talking about the necessary role of community in relation to who we are becoming as intentional followers of Jesus. We also talked about how the fact that we love God literally changes the way our brains function. And we talked about how our commitment to love one-another, and to follow through in pro-active love, makes similar physical changes to the actual structure of our minds… and to the minds of those we love.
Do not conform 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)
THE WISDOM OF FAITH: And I found myself thinking about the Romans 12 passage, “Do not conform 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.” Our brains really can be renewed in response to our refusal to be manipulated by the ambient culture, and via our decision to follow God.
Then, Tuesday evening, as Rebekah and I found ourselves sharing life together around the dinner table with dear friends, I thought about the hope resident in the concept of such transformation in response to decisions played out over time, and in consequence of love applied one interaction at a time.
It doesn’t matter how old we are, we can learn to love more purposefully, and we can learn to treat one-another with more consideration, with more kindness, with more respect. Then, over time, we literally become transformed because our minds are renewed! This is not just talk, friends, this is science, this is hope!
What I’m learning – and I’ll close with this, today – is that the path to wholeness invariably comes through change and through struggle; but – and this is the point – when we ask God to guide us on the journey, it becomes the pathway to life, “real and eternal life, more and better life than any of us ever dreamed of” (John 10:10).
– DEREK
I used a quotation in my sermon last Sunday that you may find interesting. I don’t know where it came from other than it was used in a prayer group that I was a part of a few years ago. It goes something like this. “What you focus on you become. If you focus on the temporaray and the illusory, your life will become a temporary illusion. But if you focus on the permanent the real, God in Jesus Christ, you will live forever.” This blog today illustrates this as did the scripture you read this evening.