"Renewing Of Your Mind"

Romans 12:2, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." One of the most important verses in the Bible is Romans 12:2. From this and other verses we see that the very foundation of who we are and the decisions we make that ultimately leads to our actions, all come from what we allow into our mind. This Godly act of renewing the mind, by The Word of God, becomes the most important endeavor in which a new or a seasoned believer can be involved. However, not doing so, is often the reason far too many fall away from Christ and lose interest and are in danger. Think about it this way. The things you see and hear and in which you participate, go into your memory. The more you do something, see something, hear something, the more of your memory is taken up by those things. For example, those who are into pornography have a tremendous problem kicking that problem. Why? Their memory banks are full of images, sounds, just looking at an attractive person can trigger those memory banks into full action. You see, before we are in Christ, most of us have spent many, many years filling our memory banks with ungodly content. However, when a person obeys the Gospel, through study of God's Word, those memory banks are hopefully at this point being replaced, renewed with Godly living and no longer remaining full of that old content. The renewing of a persons mind needs to become one of the very first priorities in their new life with Christ. All of the ungodly content did not get there overnight, and often it does not leave overnight. It is a continual process. The process involves replacing the existing ungodly content with new Godly content. This is why reading and studying the Word is so important, along with prayer. God's Word acts as a spiritual cleansing as it begins to replace the garbage in your mind with God-inspired content. That is why it is so critical what you watch, what you listen to. What is in your mind, ultimately manifests itself in your day to day decisions and actions. The reason most new believers fall from grace, is that they never successfully clean out the old thoughts and information in their mind with clean God-inspired information. It's similar to programming a computer. The computer basically does exactly what the program says. Your mind reacts only based on the program that is in your mind. If that program is full of ungodly, worldly information, you have a greater chance of being involved in ungodly, worldly activities. If your mind is filled with God-inspired content, then you are more likely to be involved in God-honoring activities. This basic concept of renewing your mind is the most important process any obedient believer can begin. Many have been walking with Christ for many years, yet have never really totally cleaned out their mind. They have learned how to compartmentalize their mind and keep the ungodly content in a back closet..hidden away in the back. Not dealing with that MIND closet will ultimately result in major problems in life at some point. I encourage you to sit down after reading this, and ask yourself what is in your mind that is not God-honoring. Then make an effort to spend each day cleansing your mind a little more. Don't forget, beginning the cleansing process is only part of the problem. You then have to keep it cleansed by not putting ungodly content back in. The only way to do this is by reading and studying God's Word, the Bible and remaining in communication with God in prayer. This is critical to our ability to serve God and is a war that must be won daily. God will help you. God will strengthen you in this renewing process. Recognize its importance and begin this process today of renewing your mind so that you can be the best servant for the Kingdom possible. It won't happen overnight, it is a process...day by day. Your number one weapon is His Word. Start the process today...it will change your life. Oh, one more thing...never give up!!!