Dear BPCWA worshipper, God commands the Christian to be transformed. Rom 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.”  And we are to do so by the renewing of the mind. For each of us, the mind can therefore be your biggest friend or foe to sanctification. So, we need to know it well and respond rightly to renew the mind.

The battle for the mind. What do you think is the most important thing in life? Men often think it is money, health, and success. Hence, most people make these the most important businesses to take care of in life. Satan attacked the mind, not the body of man, to cause mankind to fall. Satan deceived man’s minds rather than attack their physical health or possessions. Man’s fall marred the image of God. Indeed, COVID-19 is a serious virus. But, you can lose your health and be poor, yet it will not mar the image of God in you. After salvation, the believer is called to be transformed by the renewing of the mind – to once again be restored to reflect God. Young person, Satan continues to hack into your mind, i.e. to try to get into it and plant “bugs” in it and corrupt it. Seniors, God intended you to be in the image of God at your old age, just like when He created man in the beginning.

How to win the battle for the mind? 1) Be very careful of what you allow your mind to be occupied with. Eve let herself be carried away by Satan. Satan needed first to get her attention and then kept her thinking about what he wanted her to be occupied with. So, what you allow to enter and poison our minds is very serious for the soul. We fear viruses entering us. But the believer should fear what enters the mind even more. God warned in James 1:14-15, “14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death”. Being holy and godly, i.e. Christlike, by guarding your mind is the most important business in life for a believer.  What you allow yourself to look at and listen to will take over your mind throughout the day will slowly but surely influence and change your desires, and eventually your choices! That was how Eve fell prey. Eve let her mind follow Satan’s leading instead of controlling it. And instead of extricating her mind from the situation, she allowed herself to continue in it. Eventually, she let what influenced her mind make disobedient choices. Is that you today? 2) Do not take what enters your mind lightly. What do you use your mind for all day, what do you carelessly allow to enter your mind during the majority of the day? Old or young, we must not just allow ourselves to read, listen to, or watch, thinking it is nothing serious since it is “just in the mind”. What goes into the mind will eventually re-wire your mind. Your outward behaviours are influenced by what goes on in your mind. Eventually, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life will overtake you, like Eve.  Take serious actions from today onward to stop.

What are some specific things I can do? 1) Make studying God’s Word a preoccupation. Why does God give you the mind? Because He intends to give you the knowledge of His Word, to listen and understand, to discern between right and wrong, and therefore to obey Him. We have too many errors pumped into our minds already. We need to rewire it. Instead of being like the world, you must constantly renew it through the Word all day. We fear dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. So, we read articles and do what we can to exercise the mind to avoid these illnesses. But we need to fear the corruption of the mind far more. We need to do much more in occupying our minds with the things of God. So, take it seriously to develop a habit for and delight in reading and studying God’s Word, whatever your age may be. 2) Stop trusting your fallen mind. We need to remember that we have a fallen mind. We cannot trust its thinking. It needs to be renewed. We need to learn the new ways and leave the old. God tells us to “prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom 12:2). We need to stop thinking that our life experiences are what we can trust in. Therefore, we need to be ready to put aside what we feel makes sense when God’s Word proves otherwise. We need to be ready to leave our old ways and thinking and replace them with God’s ways. This is how we train ourselves to renew our minds. 3) Start trusting God’s mind. The Bible reveals to us the mind of God. I must renew my fallen mind with God’s Mind. This means that I must trust, embrace, and follow God’s thoughts, values, and commands without any reservations at all. I will never doubt or question God’s Word because “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Ps 119:105). It is like walking in absolute darkness with a torchlight. You will only trust it, not what you imagine regarding what is safe or not. We must stop trusting our fallen minds. Instead, we must always ask, “is this thinking consistent with the Word of God?”. If not, I must leave what experience, and what man’s advice tells me. I must always be ready to doubt my own experiences, my own logic, and what the world says is sensible. I must always view with suspicion man’s ideas and even my own experiences that have brought me success, no matter how used to I am to them. I must be immediately ready to leave my own ideas about what I should do, how I should live, and what I should value if they are inconsistent with God’s Word. This is what it means to renew my mind. 4) Be careful of the company you keep. Remember, Eve’s corrupted mind influenced Adam’s perfect mind. Adam allowed it. We can influence others to fall. We can allow others’ minds to influence us to fall. God warns about a particular deception, 1 Corinthians 15:33 “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.” We may think that our friends in school and at work will not cause our minds any harm. But God warns otherwise. The more time you spend with worldly company and listen to carnal counsel, the more you will be influenced. God uses the word “corrupt”. We must take it seriously.

Being aware that our minds are fallen is not enough. We need to keep renewing our minds until we die!

Yours in our Lord’s service,
Pastor