I was told that I wouldn’t be having my usual Chapel Time with the kids, to give way to the school’s United Nations Event. I was told to deliver a ‘meaningful message’ instead of what I had lined up for my ‘Pay It Forward’ series.
No worries, I thought. After all, the theme of this year’s celebrations was as follows:
‘Transforming our world, renewing our society’.
Apparently this was drawn from Romans 12:2 – ‘Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.’; The thing is I could just cite this and tell the people – that is, the children, not just in Junior and Senior High, but also from all the lower levels (down to the kids); also, the teachers and the parents who would be around to support the kids – I could tell them all that we would transform our worlds by renewing our societies, and before we go about doing that, we would do well do start and to keep going with transforming ourselves, by the renewing of our own minds.
So just so I’m clear, I could say this and only this: Transforming the world starts with renewing our society. Renewing our society starts with transforming ourselves. Finally, transforming ourselves starts with renewing our minds. You could forget everything else in this sequence, and focus solely on renewing your minds, and you’ll be on your way to transforming the world – and take note, this is not just a message, a call, and a challenge for our children. Actually, it’s the parents who need to renew their minds. It’s the teachers who need to continue to learn, and in the process, renew their own minds.
Pastor John always made it a point to indicate how the process of ‘renewing our minds’ is actually what it means to repent. More than the traditional definition of repentance which would have us beating ourselves up for our mistakes, and trying in vain to turn away from sin and unrighteousness which, without Christ, saturates each and every aspect of our being, we’re more subscribed to the more accurate definition – The derivation of the Greek metanoia, meaning to change the way we think.
It’s a tall order to change your ways, and it’s an even more challenging thing to realize that the change goes deeper than your actions, but also extends to your thoughts. Most of the people who have to do it barely have any time to sit down and think, much less to meditate on what aspects of their thinking to learn, re-learn and un-learn.
But the good news is, we haven’t tackled the entire verse of Romans 12:2. Let me read the complete thing: “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.”
You know what this is telling me? You don’t need to be so stressed in figuring out what it means to renew your own mind, and you certainly don’t need to bear the burden of taking the first step to getting it done. I mean, you can, but you probably won’t get too far – I mean, think about it. You’re essentially being ‘critical’ to yourself, being judge, jury, and executioner to yourself. 9/10 you’d be giving yourself a free pass.
No, what I’m proposing is that you initiate any changing of your own mind, not by your own initiative or your own thoughts, but by considering something outside of yourself… and actually, something far beyond yourself – that is, God’s will for your life, and really, for everyone’s life: and it’s elaborated on in the rest of the verse: what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Gosh, I had to stop and make adjustments here – I was going to quote 2 Peter 3:9 – “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.“
You can probably see where the problem is here. In our repenting we realize God’s will, which is not for any of us to perish, but for us to reach repentance…? It’s like putting the word ‘Mission’ in your Mission Statement, e.g. ‘Our Mission is to influence the world according to our mission’
But I suppose I could roll with the apparent alternative – that is, that through testing, we would see God’s will, realizing His goodness, and accepting His perfection.
If that makes any sense. I mean, I could easily just say that the primary way for any of us and for all of us to renew our minds is to first and foremost, consider the love that God has for us, contrary to our fleshly approach of earning God’s approval and favor. The first step many and possibly all would take for their way of thinking to be changed is by broadcasting what I now realize is absolute Truth in the face of a world and a reality full of finite facts: That is, again, God’s love for us.
For indeed, God DOES love us, and it’s not a mere love that’s a liking, nor is it a tolerance, nor is it even a mere preference; No, the love that God has for us is first and foremost an everlasting love – that is, a love that has no beginning and end, a love that lasts forever. It’s a love that existed before even the thought of our being was ever realized, a love that knew us long before we were born, and a love that is for us fully, yesterday, today, and forever.
From the moment we were born we were trying in our own ways to be significant, trying to find worth in religion, or ultimately through our own efforts. We were trying to reach heaven, and we were failing miserably, making ourselves all the more miserable. What I’m trying to say here is that God loves you despite of your efforts and lack thereof; and I’m saying this is possible because of Christ. Christ was born, He lay down His life, He rose again, and He ascended into heaven, in an act of everlasting love which is to say that you couldn’t reach heaven, but it was Eternity that reached down to you.
And I could keep testifying about what this means for me personally, and how it’s changed the way I think. I could say how it’s changed the way I think, and therefore, how it’s changed the society around me, and how it’s transforming the world as I see it, no matter how slow a change it would be. But, rather, I am more excited to see how this simple Truth would eventually make it’s way to changing your mind, your own being, and in the process, your society and your world.
I think I’ll leave it here for now. Need just a little more time to let this marinate.
Till the next post, God bless you more and more.
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
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