“Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:2
Oh, how easy it is to be “conformed to this age.” Even if we spend time in prayer and Bible study every day, even if we start and end our day that way, it is usually not what we spend MOST of our time doing. There is news, television shows, secular books and magazines, even friends, family, and neighbors that pull our thoughts back into focusing on the world. If we’re going to be salt and light to anybody (that will be an entirely seperate post), we sure can’t - and shouldn’t - seal ourselves in a little insulated bubble to keep out all the worldly stuff. What do we do? Personally, I have weaned myself away from many things that weren’t bad, but just weren’t nourishing my spiritual life. I realized that I was getting sucked into TV shows that had me thinking things that just aren’t glorifying God, so I almost never watch TV anymore. (See a whole post about that here.) Some of the magazines I was reading had me thinking way too much about whether my clothes or my hair style were trendy enough, or envying the expensive new kitchen appliances in some million-dollar home. There were other influences in my life, too, (music, books, even some people) that weren’t necessarily bad, but sure weren’t helping me grow to know Christ more, so eventually, I cut them out. There are probably still more I should eliminate, but I’ll do that as I feel convicted to do so.
All of that relates to not being conformed to the world, but what about renewing our minds? That, of course, comes primarily from seeking a closer relationship with Christ: spending time in the Word; seeking to listen to God rather than just telling him my laundry list of wants and needs; surrounding myself with Christian friends; spending time worshipping, and so on. Christ lives in me, and I am a new creation now, but I have to learn to act like it.
Sometimes I’m not sure which things I should avoid, or what exactly I should do. Fortunately, I don’t have to rely on my own so-called good sense. If I allow Christ to renew my mind, I can then have good discernment skills. That’s something I pray for nearly every day. The Bible is a wonderful guide for living, but it just doesn’t specifically cover many of the things I deal with in my day-to-day life, so the only way I can figure out what to do is through discernment. I pray that for my kids, too. Not only do I need guidance about those things, I also need to seek God’s will. I keep flipping through the Bible, looking for that chapter called “Jamie’s Life” and figure if I do find it, I’ll look for chapter 35 (I’ll be 35 in a few weeks) and read that to see what God wants me to do this year. So far, I can’t find it, so I guess I’ll just have to keep praying, and try to keep growing with Christ’s help.
All of that relates to not being conformed to the world, but what about renewing our minds? That, of course, comes primarily from seeking a closer relationship with Christ: spending time in the Word; seeking to listen to God rather than just telling him my laundry list of wants and needs; surrounding myself with Christian friends; spending time worshipping, and so on. Christ lives in me, and I am a new creation now, but I have to learn to act like it.
Sometimes I’m not sure which things I should avoid, or what exactly I should do. Fortunately, I don’t have to rely on my own so-called good sense. If I allow Christ to renew my mind, I can then have good discernment skills. That’s something I pray for nearly every day. The Bible is a wonderful guide for living, but it just doesn’t specifically cover many of the things I deal with in my day-to-day life, so the only way I can figure out what to do is through discernment. I pray that for my kids, too. Not only do I need guidance about those things, I also need to seek God’s will. I keep flipping through the Bible, looking for that chapter called “Jamie’s Life” and figure if I do find it, I’ll look for chapter 35 (I’ll be 35 in a few weeks) and read that to see what God wants me to do this year. So far, I can’t find it, so I guess I’ll just have to keep praying, and try to keep growing with Christ’s help.
Please note: I am not endorsing the put-yourself-in-a-bubble idea for anybody, myself included. I also don’t think that everyone needs to eliminate all the things I’ve cut down on in my life; I was convicted about certain things not influencing me in a good way, but they may not have the same effect on everyone. Maybe I’m extra cautious because I have been so far off-track in the past and I don’t want to derail again. It’s all just food for thought (and prayer). I just know that no matter what, I’ve got to have plenty of good stuff feeding me spiritually so that I can deal with all the other stuff and not get off-track. I have to be fed before I have what it takes to go feed anybody else.
