Jan 26, 2019
Romans 12:2 says “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.”
Step 1: Don’t conform to the pattern of this world
Don’t think, feel and act in the ways of this world. This pattern of living is born of malfunction. Things don’t work in this pattern, not really. This is where fear, doubt, worry, insecurity and identity crisis lives. This life is void of original intent – God’s purpose for creating the world and us.
Step 2: Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
You become transformed by changing the way you think, feel and act. Renewing means to bring back to the original. To make what is as it once was – function. Righteousness, peace and joy are the ways of the kingdom of heaven.
A pattern is something you repeat with repetition that creates a habit – habits of thinking, feeling and acting. If you want to change and be transformed into a new way of living, you have to learn and then implement the new pattern.
Many people try to be transformed by focusing on the old pattern, in an attempt to guard themselves from incorrect action. The only way to become transformed into a new pattern is by learning and implementing the new pattern.
You don’t learn a new skill by focusing on the wrong techniques. You might touch on incorrect techniques to become aware of them for safety and the purpose of becoming more skillful at the correct technique. But they are never the focus.
For example if you wanted to quit smoking and all you think about is smoking, you are going to have a hard time quitting. Even though your intent is to quit, by focusing on what you don’t want to do, you become so hyper aware of smoking, you end up creating a desire to do that very thing you don’t want to do.
This is because you drift where you look. Wherever you put your aim becomes your target. In the movie Boss Baby, there is a scene where the two kids are on a bike being chased by their babysitter. There comes a point in the chase scene where the kid comes face to face with his nemesis, a tree. The tree is a long way off, but he is focused on the tree. His focus is his aim, the object of his focus is his target. The boss baby shares a true principle,”Aim for failure and you will always succeed. So aim away from failure.” By focusing on the tree he is setting himself up for a crash, even though he doesn’t want to crash. He is so focused on what he doesn’t want that he his heading straight for it. Chose to focus on where you actually want to go and that is where you will end up. The kid reset his focus on a clear path and missed the tree.
The habits we hold took repetition to create. To create a new habit will also take repetition.
Step 1: You need to focus on what you actually want to become. You must set the target on what you actually want to hit. As you focus and work towards your new target you will find yourself going back to your old habits of thinking, feeling and acting. This is because your body is still conditioned to function in the old pattern.
Step 2: Every time you catch yourself in the old pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting, this is a victory. When you recognize that you are operating in an old technique and correct it, it is this process with repetition that you become transformed. This means that you cannot get bent out of shape – live in guilt, shame, condemnation, self loathing when you find yourself in the old pattern. Repentance means to change the way you think. If you get caught up in condemnation – for which there is none for those who are in Christ; you fall into a trap. This guilt and shame will cause you to focus on a target that you do not desire, which will cause you to end up in a place you did not want to go. Those things may have an outward appearance of godliness, but they don’t bring about true transformation.
If this is the process, then it is ok, that this is the process. Meaning that it is ok when you find yourself in the old way of thinking. I’m not saying it is ok to embrace sin. But here is what I am saying: Let’s say there is a basketball player and his free throw technique is off, so he misses more shots then he makes. When he intentionally shows up to the court to work out his technique, this is a victory. When he steps up to the line and shoots and misses, this is a victory. With every shot he his making adjustments because his focus is on getting the ball in the basket. If he focuses on how many times he misses, it will become a trap that causes frustration and the illusion of failure. When you show up to work it out, there is no fear of being disqualified.
It is only this process that will bring about transformation. It is only in this true transformation that you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is. The fact that it is good, pleasing and perfect. The fact that Jesus made the way to the target possible. This is why when you change the way you think, you literally change your life.