Season 5, Episode 6: Renewing The Mind

Who of us wouldn't like to change the inner workings of our minds?

None of us have perfectly curated thoughts that give us peace and joy. And this idea of renewing the mind in Romans has always been one of those verses that we desperately want to be real in our lives. But the truth is we don't always experience the change we would really like. Is there something missing?

How exactly do we renew the mind? 

Now, I wanna start this episode off by saying that courtesy of the prevalence of anxiety and depression in society and, and the church world's [00:01:00] greater openness to these realities, there have been a lot of books out there about the mind and specifically how we can change our thoughts.

Actually, this is such a great thing. It's progress. Now, I've read a few of them, but I feel like the discussion has often been a bit incomplete. The reason being that the texts often fail to acknowledge the emotional aspect of thoughts, which are often the root cause of our thought life.

When I was at Uni training to become a Rehab Counselor, I inevitably had to learn all about cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT, probably the most commonly used type of therapy in counseling. And of course, I also used it in counseling. And one of the basic premises of this form of therapy is that our thoughts fuel our feelings, and therefore our behavior, which means that the solution to mental health issues is to address thoughts.

Now, modern CBT has definitely improved and acknowledges that the previous CBT was limited in [00:02:00] its one directional view of thoughts and feelings. Instead, modern CBT sees a dynamic relationship between thoughts and feelings. And therefore feelings and emotions can also drive the thought life. But I think this modern adjustment has been slightly too late for the Christian community who has almost completely adopted this idea that emotions can be controlled by thoughts.

I am certainly not going to do as great a job of explaining this, so I would absolutely recommend jumping back to season three, episode two, where I interviewed Julani Potgeiter on the subject of emotions. And as you may recall, Julani is a gifted trauma specialist and has had some hugely insightful things to say about how the brain manages information and emotions.

So in a nutshell, simply managing thoughts as though they are compartmentalized from what we feel without a feedback loop doesn't honor the fact that our brain has emotional memory, and that emotional [00:03:00] memory doesn't simply switch off because we've selected thoughts. We would like to think you can't simply reason yourself out of a memory.

So let's examine the source of this concept of today's episode, which is found in Romans 12 verse two. It says, 

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” 

That's the ESV version.

It's slightly clunky, so I'm going to also share with you the NIV version. It says. 

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is his good, pleasing and perfect will.” 

Paul's instruction is, don't conform, but be transformed.

And the impetus for this transformation is the mind being renewed. We will [00:04:00] examine all of these words, starting here though, with renewal. 

The word for renewal, anakainōsis, besides renewal, can be taken to mean renovation. It implies a complete reconstruction of an old obsolete framework into a new and better one. So this isn't a small change. It is deep and thorough so that our default framework is fundamentally changed.

A couple of years ago, I was having a typical conversation with my mom, which happens a few times a week. I called her on the phone. We talk about the weather in Brisbane, her health, how my dad's going, and property prices, just the usual. But on this particular occasion, she mentioned something so intriguing, which I think really will help us understand what it means to renovate or to renew the mind.

She said that she had noticed that in her inner dialogue it was no longer in Hindi, [00:05:00] but instead it was in English. Anyone listening who has grown up, in a non-English speaking background would understand how significant this statement is. Even if you have to speak English, most of the time, your mind still defaults to your mother tongue.

My mom grew up speaking Hindi. She lived her whole childhood in a Hindi speaking environment. She spoke Hindi with my dad and her family members my whole childhood, but now the default language in her mind when she goes to communicate her inner thoughts is English. This is actually incredible. After 40+ years of living in Australia, through no intention of her own, her default mode of thinking has fundamentally changed.

This to me, describes so aptly the effect of mind renewal. It's a complete reorientation of the mind. It is [00:06:00] actually what we are hoping will happen when we read those books about managing our thoughts, and our mind. We don't just wanna replace an anxious thoughts, we want peace to be the default direction of our thoughts rather than anxiety. I don't just wanna apply thoughts in an effort to feel like I belong. I want my default setting to be that I belong. If I default to these ideas, I'd never have to apply these other thoughts that are often still so against the grain. Just like my mum no longer has to make an effort to think in English. Rather, she has to make an effort to think in Hindi. I can guess at this point the underlying question that is already forming in your minds. If changing our thoughts doesn't accomplish this change, what does? We will come back to this, but let's just hold in our minds the idea of renewal as a complete renovation.

Now, let's consider the meaning of the word for mind. A really important factor to [00:07:00] consider is the way we define the mind contrasts with how the biblical authors defined it. We would consider the mind as the component of the human being that reasons and applies logic. But for biblical authors, the mind is not as strictly distinctive from heart, soul, and will. Sure, there is nuance between these concepts, but there isn't a strict dualistic distinction between them that is overtly clear in scripture. So the mind in this passage can include our desires, our perceptions, our intentions, and of course our thoughts. Which means that the renewal of the mind as Paul intended here, is not simply a change in logic and reason, though that for sure would help.

It's a change in our heart, our intentions and our desires and our perception. This is much bigger and more involving than we are probably giving due consideration. So let's consider the other two critical words in this passage. Conformed and [00:08:00] transformed. The word conformed, which is syschēmatizō, is a word that is related to our English word schema, which means to shape oneself to a pattern or a mold. It can quite literally mean to be poured into the mold of something. In this case, the world.

The most significant part of this word is the fact that it refers to an outward shaping. In other words, this pouring into the mold of, say the world changes the outward appearance. Now, I'm not assuming that it's only talking about a skin deep change. I mean, of course, even if you change the outer mold of something, you essentially change its structure, but it is talking about something a little bit different to the word transformed, which is metamorpho. Which of course I'm sure you can recognize just in the way I said it, our English word metamorphosis comes from this word. So the word metamorpho means that the change occurs through the forming of the inward condition, and it is this [00:09:00] reality that shapes the outward expression.

The most interesting fact about this word is that it is the same word used to describe the transfiguration of Jesus. The change that Paul is suggesting we participate in through the renovation of our minds is a very significant change that emanates from the inward condition.

This is where that tendency we have to fake our faith is really important. It's not a real renewal. I mean, that sort of seems obvious, right? But it's also not a transformation if it doesn't come from the inward process of maturation. 

There's a few big takeaways here besides the ones that I've already mentioned.This transformation that Paul is talking about occurs at a much deeper level than the world's process of conformity. You can even say that the conforming that occurs on account of the world's program is very shallow. It doesn't intend to change who we are, and it can't. If anything, it simply appeals to the existing flesh.

[00:10:00] Another rather obvious point, but needs to be stated is that the pattern of this world's thinking, again, taking into consideration that we aren't just talking about logic and reason, is contrary to God and his will. See the use of the word pattern in this version is really important. Pattern is included in the NIV and it's helpful in understanding the broader statement.

A pattern doesn't just pertain to what one thinks. It's not just about the content of our thoughts, it's also the way we think. It's the methodology embraced when we think. What's the world oriented toward when it determines good reason? Another significant takeaway is the obvious relationship that can be observed in this statement between the body and the mind as the scriptures define the mind, of course.

So there is a relationship there, which we already know, and yet often we do have a tendency to compartmentalize the body and the mind, especially in our modern definition of mind. So [00:11:00] in a way, with this point, we are stepping out of the micro analysis that we've just been in and just looking in a more general sense. This verse is really pointing to this relationship between the body and the mind. Though, it's not necessarily clarifying the exact manner in which they relate. At a micro level, we might describe the body as more specifically our actions and outward behaviors.

Now the reality is that we already know and have evidence of this relationship between our body and our minds, at least in science. And a few verses also point this out. Stress is by far the most exemplary occasion in which we observe the relationship between body and mind. As a result of our stressful inner musings, that obviously involve both reason and emotion, our body pays dearly in dysfunctions. Many of which we often try to address through purely physical means. Here are a few examples that are proven to be symptomatic of stress rather than a [00:12:00] purely physical phenomenon. IBS, irritable Bowel syndrome, and sleep disorders. Yes, there certainly can be physical problems at play, but in most cases stress is a major cause.

I'll tell you how we know that IBS has a significant psychological and emotional causation. One of the most effective treatment modalities for IBS is a form of neurolinguistic programming. Okay, so there is a neurolinguistic program that has been shown to cure in many cases, IBS symptoms.

Anyone who's had IBS understands that it can be years of modifying one's diet and you still aren't completely rid of the sensitivity. But a program that is basically a type of hypnosis has changed multitudes of people's stomach [00:13:00] conditions and how it responds to food. Like that's actually absurd. And of course there are even more physical manifestations that happen as a result of stress: the lack of sleep, the headaches, neurological problems.

All of this is as a result of one emotion fueled by many unhelpful thoughts. Now, my question is, how many other physical ailments are rooted in our refusal to renew the mind? How many conditions might actually find their basis in the way we are perceiving and interpreting?

We have magnitudes of people desperately praying and seeking God for healing at altar calls and revival meanings, and we ought to keep doing this. But what if the real issue is that God wants us to address our perception that has been conformed to this world or age (which is apparently a much better rendering of the word in the Greek)?

Imagine if that's it. Imagine if [00:14:00] it's our attitude towards certain things that are actually causing the pains and the physical hurts and the suffering that we are going through. And, so the answer to that is for us to be transformed by the renewing of our mind, our heart, and our desires.

Well, we need to look at this passage from another perspective. We now need to look at context, starting with the broader historical context. Paul was obviously writing to the Romans in this letter. Paul has not visited the Roman church, but wants to do so on his way to Spain.

So his letter is likely intended as an introduction. That's what all of the theologians and scholars tell us. So that the Roman Church knows about him and his values. Before he gets there, he still addresses some matters causing disunity in the church, and we'll see what exactly he's addressing when we look at the immediate context.

So our verse, obviously [00:15:00] demonstrates that there is a prevailing culture that is pervasive and difficult to resist, that is able to conform the Roman inhabitants and therefore us also. So what exactly is this culture? What do we know about the culture of the Romans at the time?

Well, there is actually plenty that we have been able to uncover courtesy of historians and archeologists, but for the purposes of this podcast, we'll probably only have time to cover about three to four key ideas. 

Firstly, the slave trade in Rome was rampant. Now we see the evil in slavery these days, but slavery was widespread back in that time.

But even for that day's standard, Rome was still pretty full on when it came to slavery. Often the slaves were originally war captives, so they'd gone and conquered a country and they'd taken the captives and they'd sold them into slavery. That's essentially what would've happened. But the worst part of slavery in the Roman Empire, and especially Rome, was the verbal, physical and sexual abuse that was [00:16:00] commonplace for slaves by their owners or masters. These abuses were often brutal and there were no protections for the slave besides emancipating themselves, which could be done to escape the brutality. To add to this, sexual abuse could be legitimately perpetrated against younger slaves. So young male slaves were engaged for sexual gratification only. So this was a known reality that was not interfered with by any authority or legal structure. 

Secondly, the culture was incredibly hierarchical. Status and rank drove almost all areas of life. Superiority and subordination was built into the society through the hierarchical system. And depending on where you sat on that hierarchy, determined how much power you were legitimately allowed to have over others, and how little say you had, even with what happened to your own body. And nobody argued with that structure. No matter how unfair the circumstances [00:17:00] were, social standing mattered greatly in this society, even in determining what was an appropriate sexual act. For instance, a homosexual act done against another man was deemed inappropriate if the person was an equal in status to you and they were being deemed the receiver. I know this is getting a bit weird, but this is literally how it worked. However, if they were beneath your status, it was almost the dominant male's right to relegate the person into a receiver posture. Prostitution was also a legitimized role, and your right as a higher status male since women were subordinate. So almost everything was defined by this hierarchical system that privileged the elite and legitimately so. In other words, no one argued with this structure, even those who were oppressed by it.

Thirdly, while there was still order and cultural norms that created a framework for behavior, the society was fairly hedonistic, meaning that it was commonplace for pleasure and lust to pervade daily activity, particularly those that had [00:18:00] power. They may have exuded authority in the public sphere, but in private they could pursue pleasures to their heart's content, and that was known. So food, drinks, sex, and all of these were normal activities. And of course, religious activities could also involve these pleasure seeking activities. Even when we recently visited Pompeii, we were pretty shocked, or at least I was, at how lewd even the images could be around Pompeii.

Images of male genitalia were carved into street corners and wells and other locations pointing towards the closest brothel. Within the brothels, there were these erotic murals that served as a menu for customers looking for pleasure and choice. And look, all of this is really consistent with what history tells us about Rome and how it was established. Rome was inhabited and established by criminals and to expand the nation, women were raped and taken to be wives from neighboring tribes. Oh, and of course, Romulus killed his twin brother. Remus. Romulus is the name from which we get Rome. 

So that's a little bit about the [00:19:00] general context. So how about the more immediate context? Just around this verse. So when we read the previous verse, for instance, we can start to see a deeper point to what verse two is trying to say in the task of renewing the mind.

Romans 12, one says, 

“Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, wholly and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship.” 

The reason we are to refrain from conformity and pursue transformation through the renewing of the mind is because being a living sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to God is in direct opposition to the mode of living of the Roman Empire.

God's pleasure was not a priority to the Roman world, nor was holiness. Your rights and entitlements according to your position in society was the highest priority.

But we would be remiss if we left this here because the previous chapter also gives us greater context again in Romans 11, which it will [00:20:00] take us some time to read that, so I encourage you to go read it yourself. Paul is discussing extensively the situation of the Jews and the Gentiles, frequently highlighting the mercy of God in salvation, being available to Gentiles. 

There are some fairly detailed explanations from a historical context that you can look into about this, but in a nutshell, Scholars believe that the significance of this discussion surrounds events in 49 AD when Emperor Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome. And after his death, Emperor Nero allowed Jews to return to Rome, presumably around 54 to 55AD. It is believed that the book of Romans was written in the mid fifties, maybe 57 AD, and therefore he was likely addressing this somewhat newly mixed community, which may have had potential issues arising from the Jewish people's return into [00:21:00] this Gentile community, at least a temporary gentile community. 

So it's out of this discussion about the Gentiles and the Jews and the mercy of God that Paul launched into the first verse about a living sacrifice. So what exactly is he saying then in verse one? Well, it's important to know that the word used for sacrifice here is what would be described as cultic, in that it is meant to be reminiscent of the sacrifices that would've been undertaken under the Mosaic covenant. So when the people who were living at this time heard this sentence, it would've conjured this kind of sacrificial imagery. 

Paul is saying that in light of God's mercy through Christ's sacrifice, the only reasonable response is to give our lives, body, mind, and heart, fully to God, submitting our entire being to satisfy him. We are no longer our own. In lieu of Christ's sacrifice, the only right response is to honor him by [00:22:00] sacrificing ourselves. 

And then as we move into verse two, Paul is actually continuing this thought. He's saying to be a living sacrifice, then to respond in the reasonable way that he's suggesting, we must deny the tendency of conformity to our environment and be led by the inner work that the Holy Spirit is imploring us to partner with.

This inward transformation can only happen when we revoke our surroundings and resist the norm. This isn't just about what our society thinks. But how our society thinks, and in this way, our outer expression will align with the inward transformation. We aren't meant to fake this Christianity like societies and generations have done.

The funny thing about faking our faith is that this can be conforming to the world, isn't it? The world's pattern of pretending. Another thing. This isn't just talking about moralistic behavior. To sacrifice ourselves is a completely un-world-like [00:23:00] thing to do, especially for the sake of someone else's pleasure, in this case, Gods. That is not how the world thinks. That's a matter of orientation, not just moralistic behaviour. And the outcome of this process of renewal if we participate, is that we will be able to discern God's will. Have you ever wanted to know what God's will is? Yeah. Like a million times? Right. Well, this is giving us a major, major key. 

If we worry about the transformation process and it's genuine, we won't have to stress about God's will. We will be able to test and discern it. So really Paul is being much broader in this passage than simply saying that we are meant to oppose the world, which sometimes this verse mistakenly gets interpreted as, this isn't telling us to simply just oppose everything that the world does or represents. He's directing us to an even higher way of thinking. He wants us to know how we are to respond. How we [00:24:00] effectively be and become a living sacrifice. Because the methodology of this age's perception will not lead you there. So again, how exactly do we renew the mind? Well, the first very obvious step is to acknowledge that the pattern of this world or this age’s thinking is contrary to God.

Yeah, that seems rather obvious, and I think I might've even mentioned already. Where we tend to fail on this though, is that we often categorize ourselves as outside of the world and then think the world refers to everyone else who's not Christian. But the whole point of this passage is to instruct those who are believers.

Can we really say that we are right now as we stand a living sacrifice? Can we really claim to have a renewed mind? Are we transformed? No, of course not. Since we are not, that also means we can't categorize ourselves as outside the influence of this age. Even a consideration of just a [00:25:00] few countercultural Jesus ideas demonstrates that we are still influenced by this world.

For instance, Matthew 22:37-39 says, 

Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart. With all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself.” 

The unbelievably countercultural fact that we can deduce from this particular scripture is that God expects that we would not place any condition, any condition on loving him or our neighbor.

Now, this was a contentious issue at the time of Jesus. Various rabbis claim that your neighbor was only your fellow Jews, or that it was everyone besides Samaritans. But Jesus reiterates in Luke's version of this passage that everyone is our neighbor. Since we are not able to say that we apply no conditions to who we love or how we love, we [00:26:00] clearly still have some mind renewing to be done. And that's just one of the many countercultural ideas in scripture that is meant to inform our choices and how we live. We have a ways to go before we can claim to be completely separate from the influence of our age. In other words, we're more worldly than we care to admit, so let's continue because there is surely more to renewing the mind. Of course, the word is a big part of the mind renewal process, so I'm talking about the word of God.

It's precisely the place where we learn who God is and what he cares about. The only thing that I would caution though. I don't want you guys to just go, oh, yeah, cool, we gotta read the word. Because we already get that instruction, don't we? 

It's important to learn a thing or two about how we read the Bible. You don't need to do what I did and go and study and do a [00:27:00] massive degree that takes you way too long to do. You can just go and read Gordon Fee and Douglas Stewart's “How to Read the Bible For All It's Worth”. And there's other texts like that that are out there. They're all out there to help you learn how you actually read the Bible. Misinterpretation of the text does happen. It often surprises me how Christians can deduce that God is an angry God who simply wants to punish humankind when the scriptures persistently communicate his unusual mercy. So learning is more about preventing gross misunderstandings about God and his countercultural way of life.

The other thing that I see happen is that we read the Bible devotionally, meaning we read it to hear what God has to say personally to us, but then the conclusion we draw from it, we apply to all humankind. So that also can be an inappropriate use of scripture.

And that's why [00:28:00] it's good to just do a little bit of research. A little bit of research is even too strong a word, but a little bit of learning on how you read the Bible. Ask people you know who read the Bible and have read the Bible for a long time. And especially if they learn things and you listen to them and you can see that they have a knowledge about scripture. Go ask them. That's, a great thing to do. In fact, the scriptures were never meant to be studied in isolation. That's why this devotional idea is actually quite interesting and unusual for how the Bible was un understood to be read in the past. 

Additionally, it's important to read the word with the goal to discover what you didn't see before. Now I go to a church that is vocal, okay? What I mean by that is that when the preacher is preaching and he makes a good point, someone will remark. “That's good. Good word. Great point, Ben. Excellent point, Dan.” Now, most of my church life has been in environments like this. I neither dislike it [00:29:00] or like it. It doesn't bother me, nor do I need it. But I've noticed something really fascinating. When the preacher says something that people already believe, but maybe it's a nuanced way of saying the same thing, the crowd will say something like, “That's great. Excellent word.” If a preacher says a challenging point, but again, it's still not so radical that it's outside of their existing belief system. The crowd will be like, “Hmm, that's good. Hmm, that's good one.” You know what I mean? Like it's got a slightly different tone to it. It's like they've just eaten a really well-cooked homemade apple pie. 

But if the preacher presents a really challenging point, that's radical, that is really making them think? The crowd will be silent. It's like the first time my husband ate an almond croissant, which was only like five-ish years ago. He was utterly speechless and his pupils dilated. 

So what was the point of that? Besides a relatively interesting anecdote? [00:30:00] The point is we are conditioned to affirm and look for things we already believe and understand. But that is not where the gold is in scripture. The best stuff is the ones we've had to grapple with. That's the life changing, transformational stuff. A couple of years ago, I reread the prodigal son parable and I was specifically wanting to learn about jealousy, an issue that I have struggled with in seasons of my life. And weirdly, I haven't really found any staggeringly good resources on how to deal with it. So I'm still searching for some truths around this one. But I did realize something. I identified myself [00:31:00] in the older brother. And I grappled with that hard to digest truth 'cause nobody likes the older brother. But I saw how I wasn't faithful to the father at times because I loved him. I was faithful at times because of what I wanted. Now how radical do you think that truth was for my life and faith? It was actually huge. And I wasn't looking for the thing that I wanted to hear. 

The kind of transformation that we are talking about in this passage doesn't come from what is called confirmation bias. If we want transformation through the renewing of our minds, we have to be willing to see what we don't currently see or what we don't want to see.

I mean, the whole process of renewing the mind means that something conflictual is forcing a process of change. So we are not gonna get to transformation or renew the mind by just looking for stuff we already think. Okay. I feel like I've said enough on that matter. So moving [00:32:00] on. I have found Dr. Caroline Leaf's books to be incredibly helpful when it comes to the process of renewing the mind. Now, I'm definitely not gonna do it justice, and I probably haven't even interpreted what she's recommending exactly the way she has intended it to be. So I would say go and read it for yourself. But she's a clinical neuroscientist who's also Christian, and she explains the science around neural pathways.

So the biggest takeaway from her books that I've found is the way she highlights the repetition and reinforcement of the beliefs we wish to have. So I realize what I'm about to say is not so clearly connected to scripture. 

But my experience is that it is highly unlikely that you will be able to reinforce a thought that you have no connection with whatsoever. For example, I will never be able to convince myself that Buddhism is the right religion because my experience of Christianity is too strong and affirming of Jesus.

So reinforcing a thought effectively [00:33:00] means you have to have some iota that this belief that you wanna believe could be true or is at least marginally true for you. So for instance, recently when I was struggling with thoughts about the future, I recalled a time when I had a vision of me sitting next to Jesus and he said to me, “your future is good.”

And I believe him. But sometimes I just don't believe it as much as the fears that are telling me my future is not good. So this is a belief that has some legs. It's not a thought I couldn't become convinced about. And in fact, if I believe that this at its fullest capacity, I probably would never worry about my future again.

So this is a worthy belief of reinforcement. Therefore, I started writing it down daily, but even more than this, I read over it, renewing my belief in it each time. I embraced and engaged with a statement, as though I didn't just believe it in part, [00:34:00] but I believed this fully.

Like there were no other beliefs that were standing in the way of that belief. It took me about a week until I felt completely safe and secure about my future. This is what Reinforcement does. 

Now, God actually already does this himself. He reinforces our thoughts, but he does this through experiences. That is why it's absolutely critical that we participate with his plan in his timing. It is critical that we examine each struggle that we are facing, attempting to find what it is that he might want us to learn, because that is his opportunity to transform us through the reinforcement of our beliefs.

In Hebrews 12:5-11, it says:

“Have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? 

My son do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord nor be weary when [00:35:00] reproved by him. For the Lord, disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives.

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons for what son is there whom his father does not discipline. If you are left without discipline in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them, shall we not much more be subject to the father of spirits and live?

For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good that we may share in his holiness. (And here's the good stuff) For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

And let's look at the most significant messages about trials in the Bible. The first one, Romans 5:3-5 says,

“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings knowing [00:36:00] that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character. And character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” 

And of course the famous James 1:2-4, 

“Count it all joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

What these verses, and there are plenty more, show us is that one of God's primary forms of reinforcement for renewing our minds are trials and suffering. We might call these experiential reinforcements, and let me tell you, these are the most effective at dealing with emotional memory.

Let me give you an example that happens on an everyday basis. How many times have you met someone who is really guarded [00:37:00] and not willing to share and be vulnerable? So many times, right? Often. People learn through critical stages of development that being vulnerable is not handled well by others and they don't feel safe being authentically themselves.

But when they finally find a group of friends that don't judge them, that create a safe environment, they inevitably take a chance and share something. And they learn that sharing feels good, but even more so when done amongst trusted people is an affirming and positive experience. I don't know about everyone out there, but I've seen this happen so many times. In fact, it really happened to me when I was a teenager too.

So what happens to the person? They become more like their authentic self and sometimes that authentic self surprises you. Some of the friends I've had over the years, when they've gotten more comfortable in their own skin, have ended up being so different to what I thought they were. I've discovered a wicked sense of humor, quirky personalities, quietness and calmness, fun, intelligence, wisdom.[00:38:00] 

It's just quite absurd actually. In the same way that traumatic situations can change people, so can good experiences change people for the better.

And this is a common way in which God reinforces his word practically in our lives. Because God's word isn't just a collection of good thoughts, they're meant to be lived out.

One of the mindsets that I've been working on with God is this idea that I don't belong. It's been something I've believed my whole life, probably courtesy of having one of the rarest personality types for a woman. Actually I think it is the rarest, which is INTJ. It's otherwise known as the architect or the strategist.

[00:39:00] Consequently, I've often felt like that means that I don't belong. So this year, on account of what I've been learning about renewing the mind, I thought, “well, you know what? I should apply this to some of these issues I have around belonging too!” So I wrote down a list of statements that again, I did believe in, but maybe not as much as those opposing thoughts. I was pretty much writing them down daily.

And, and I have to say, even just with that, has made a really fantastic impact and I've been feeling a lot better about a sense of belonging. However a situation came up recently, an [00:40:00] event, where I had the choice to turn up or not, and ordinarily I wouldn't because I've worked out ahead of time that I wouldn't fit in.

But instead of defaulting to not turning up, I decided I had to go. This was a must situation. This was an opportunity to reinforce experientially the beliefs that I had been cognitively reinforcing. So I turned up and I wasn't miss popularity. I didn't feel included, but I also didn't necessarily feel excluded. And better yet, I realized that I could survive in circumstances and be myself without needing to feel or be included. And not being included didn't make me feel like I didn't belong maybe for the first time in my life.

And that was a massive win. That one experience did way more for me than maybe years of writing down those statements. And I had a subsequent opportunity to reinforce this belief again, and it also was positive. So imagine if I keep building on these experiences, I may get to a place where I [00:41:00] feel like I belong wherever I go, regardless of how people behave towards me.

And that's exactly where I want to be. I don't want my sense of belonging to be dependent on the surroundings. I wanna know that I belong because I'm created by God and I'm his child, and I can go anywhere in this world and know that I belong to someone. See, simply having new beliefs crafted is like putting a plank of thin wood over a gap in a wall that you might wanna cover. It doesn't hold until you put a nail in to reinforce it to the wall. Experiences affirm beliefs. If you wanna think about it, we already live like this. 

When we become a Christian, we pray because we have been told that it's part of being a believer, right? That's part of being a Christian. But whether prayer becomes a pinnacle part of our faith is based on whether or not it was a positive experience.

That might [00:42:00] mean that you see your prayers being answered. Or maybe it just improves your mental health and your sense of peace when you talk to God and let all of these things off your chest. So, if that was a positive experience for you, then you're gonna keep doing it. In other words, we pray because it does something, because it has some effect.

And it's the same with reading the Bible. The difference between a Christian who reads the Bible and one who doesn't comes down to this one matter: whether we experience some effect from reading it,

Experience is really important. We need experiential proof. It's experiential proof that causes us to affirm the negative things we think about ourselves and the world too. In other words, the whole reason you think negative things about yourself is because you've had experiences that have affirmed that belief.

The only reason we might believe we are a loser isn't just because someone [00:43:00] said it. It's because we see something in our lives experientially that makes us agree that loser might be an accurate term. And unfortunately then, we continue to identify evidence to affirm the negative thing we already believe.

Imagine if we flipped the switch though and began looking for evidence for good. Isn't that exactly what Paul was saying when he says:

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worth praising, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8

Look for evidence of good experientially, and your perspective will become good. Okay, so where to now, well, how might God be renewing your mind right now? What experiences and statements would counter the things you have believed? What experiences and situations have you been hiding from that might be the very solution to your growth. For [00:44:00] some of you, because of the degree of trauma you've experienced, you may need to do this with a counselor. Don't try and check yourself into a situation that might backfire on you. You wanna be sure that the experience you are going to have is actually gonna build on those good beliefs and not the negative ones. So please be wise. But for others of you, maybe you are like me and there are some things you've believed or have underpinned the way that you live that you need to challenge.

Maybe it's believing that you're not lovable. Maybe it's the fact that you won't be accepted. What could you do prayerfully that might contradict what you've believed all your life? Maybe it's time to give church another go. If so, do your research. Find a church that others have told you is a safe place.

The point is, none of us move forward with cognitive statements alone. Renewing the mind is about renewing the whole being, and it's done by the thoughts that we have that are reinforced by experiences. 

Now if you got something out of this episode, I really wanna say firstly that I'm [00:45:00] so glad. But I wanted to let you know that I've also created a devotional that is intended to keep building on this learning.

You can access it by jumping on my website in the resources section, or if you already subscribed to my emails, I will be sending it out in a day or two of this being released. Furthermore, if you really wanna keep going or would like some ideas of things you could do to affirm those good experiences, reach out to me.

You know at heart I am a pastor and I always wanna help in any way I can. So please don't hold back. Otherwise, that's all I have to say on this episode. Until next time, God bless.