Time to Detox: Mind
About this series:
It's a common thought at the start of a New Year: "What changes can I make for a healthier life this year?" It's a good question, but one that's so quickly submerged by the return of old habits as January turns to February. But what would it look like to really make some changes in January 2024? To take steps for an all around healthier life? What would it look like to detox our lives?
Detox (or detoxification) is 'a process or period of time in which one abstains from or rids the body of toxic or unhealthy substances.' Everyone develops unhealthy thoughts, habits and patterns of life and much of the time we either put up with them or just don't have the courage to address them. So, at the start of 2024, we're going to take four weeks to refresh, reset and restore some of the key aspects of our lives, helping us prepare for a healthier 2024.
About this talk:
Scripture - Romans 12:1-2
The first word of this passage refers us back to the end of chapter 11 and, in fact, to the whole of the letter to this point. Following his declaration of the gospel, Paul breaks out into praise: “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor?’ ‘Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?’ For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen” (11:33-36).
Chapter 12 then continues: “In view of all this - in view of who God is, all that he’s done and the compassion he’s shown - I urge you to offer yourselves to him, sacrificing all for him in a holy, pleasing lifestyle; which is the only reasonable way to respond to him in service and worship.” The famous statement that follows is often translated with very similar wording, but a few variations are:
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (NIV).
“Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within” (JBP).
“Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think” (NLT).
“Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out” (MSG).
It’s interesting that the first thing Paul does after urging his readers to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (v 1) is to recognise the battle they are in and instruct them to engage their minds in that battle. Essentially, if they are to serve and worship God as he deserves, they will need to fight the pressure to be moulded to the values and behaviours of the world by having their minds renewed. In that way they will be transformed into people who serve and worship God. He is urging them not so much to action, as to thinking; not so much to physical effort, as to mental effort. Which makes sense when we appreciate that, as a general rule, how we think (what we believe, value, esteem) determines how we live. We become what we worship.
So the Christian has both a negative and a positive part to play here in his or her transformation. The negative part is not to be conformed to this age; the positive part is to be transformed.
Do not conform. The world is not only around us; it’s exerting pressure on us in an attempt to mould us to its shape. That was true in Paul’s day and is just as true today where we experience unrelenting pressure to follow the dominant post-Christian values and beliefs.
Be transformed. Paul doesn’t say here what it is exactly that we are to be transformed into (though much of his content in chapters 12 to 15 spell out some specifics). But we are certainly able to say that the rest of the New Testament gives us a clear picture. For example, we “are being changed into his (Jesus’) likeness from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18); the fruit of the Spirit’s life in us is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).
Both instructions (“do not conform…be transformed”) are present imperatives, indicating that we need to constantly be personally engaged in the process. At the same time as God is transforming us (2 Corinthians 3:18) and it is the Spirit who produces his fruit in us (Galatians 5:22-23), we are to be fully engaged in the process, submitting to his will and making courageous choices to obey him. All of which requires that our minds are fully engaged and are being continually renewed in accordance with who God is and what he has made us to be.
There is no full-stop in the original text of verse 2, but the NIV translation remains true to the meaning: the goal of not being conformed but instead of being transformed is the practical task of discerning what God’s will is (what he would consider to be good, pleasing and perfect) and being able to carry it out, which is perhaps the connection into the practical matters that follow from v 3.
So, detoxing the mind might, for example, mean identifying the negative, evil, destructive thought patterns we are entertaining and taking them captive (see 2 Corinthians 10:5), bringing them into line with what God says about himself, oneself and others.
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