More about change from within.

Renewal of your mind, part 2

I did some more research around the word “renewal” and found a few things that might also be helpful. The complete quote in question is found in Romans 12:2: Do not be conformed to this world but transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Now: the Greek word used there is the word for “metamorphosis,” which does indicate that come kind of a change is meant to be taking place; indeed, some change in appearance. Question: Are you appearing differently to others because of what you have been experiencing in your faith journey?

Interestingly enough, the Greek word is also closely related to another word which refers to transfiguration—such as the Transfiguration of the Lord that we heard about on the Second Sunday of Lent. During the Transfiguration, Jesus was changed as if from within in appearance. Question: What has been happening within you, or is something about to happen within you?”

I also offer a few quotes or phrases that come from various commentaries on the text:

·         “raised to a new level of being”

·         “a change that brings us more into accordance with the will of God”

·         the mind is changed in a way that makes it “an instrument of good” rather than of evil.

·         transformation “of character and conduct”

·         things move in 2 directions: what precedes from within and what follows it as a consequence.

·         clearer insight into what we ought to be and do.

·         giving the mind new desires, tastes, and directions

·         “the truth which renews the mind has a greater hold on me than it ever did before.”

I put these into quotation marks because they come from a website called Biblehub.com, a sight which provides a wide assortment of commentaries on just about every word or passage from the Bible.

If you’d like to peruse it yourself, go to biblehub.com/commentaries, type in the word or passage you’re interested in, and you will be led to a wealth of material on the subject.

Ultimate questions: how are the things quoted above being manifested in my own life? Is there anything in particular that I would like to pray for in these closing days of Lent?

God bless you.

How are things changing within you?

Be transformed by the renewal of your mind. (Romans 12:2)

Consider this: Over the past several months, has there been a change in your way of thinking? Thinking about your faith or the various aspects of your faith, or perhaps a slight adjustment in the way you look at the world and about your own life?

If you are a praying person, if you read the scriptures or other holy books, if you have remained open to the Lord working on your mind much like a potter works with a block of clay, then the renewal is taking place. And I assure you that the renewal will continue to take place as long as you are open to receiving what the Lord is trying to teach you, often without words, in your experience and in your prayer and in the way you live your life and live in relationship with other persons.

As for me, I take great delight when I discover myself acting in ways that I probably would not have acted in the past. I take great delight when I don’t pay any more attention to the gut reactions I have to things, but rather am able to hold them up to the light of what I have been studying or receiving in prayer. How about you?

Six months ago I would have approached this particular issue and tension in this way; now, however, I have discovered that it is possible to toss away my original way of acting and put on a new way of thinking which has led to a peaceful and profitable resolution to the tension which was “running the show” in me for a while. And that is what I think Paul means when he talks about the “renewal” of our minds.

In addition to that, I am discovering that much of what the world esteems as valuable is nothing other than an idol made of sand, and that things I once thought were interesting now seem vapid and empty. Again, renewal of the mind.

Can you relate to any of these things? Today in quiet time, I invite you to consider your own situation and make note of the changes that have been taking place. The Lord loves you and continues to work with you (and me) bit by bit, step by step, as we discover a new outlook on life and on the issues and desires in our lives.

God bless you.

A fresh way of thinking and acting

The fifth item on our list (see January 3) of signs that we are having a spiritual awakening is this:

 5. A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than from fears based on past experiences.

When we are asleep (or un-awakened), our thoughts, actions and reactions are automatic, based on some kind of pre-conditioning or programming that we develop as the years go by.  Just three examples might help you get the picture:

·         When X happens, I always do Y.

·         Whenever he says  X, I start thinking Y. 

·         This thought always provokes these emotions.

The other day I was sitting in a room when a man entered who reminded me of someone who had bullied me in high school. My instinctive reaction was fear and uneasiness. I was immediately able to recognize and acknowledge the feelings that were going through me, to recall the times in the past when I had had similar feelings, and then, in freedom and with grace, was able to disassociate them from the man who had entered the room.

I looked at the man and realized that he was a unique individual, one of God’s beloved creatures, loved and cherished by people in his life. I turned off all thoughts of judgment and assessment, and simply let him be.  A bit later I noticed him in conversation with another person in the room, and that the conversation seemed cordial and friendly.

What matters is that my thoughts were now spontaneous and free; I was no longer programmed by old material.

How do we get to this point? Meditation helps a lot. In fact, I attribute my newly-found freedom to a regular practice of meditation where I have learned to realize that I am not my thoughts, but rather the thinker of thoughts, and that countless emotions pass through me every day and I have the freedom not to associate with them.

Saint Paul urges us to “be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” (Romans 12:2). This renewal can be attained through our study of the Scriptures, through our on-going relationship with Jesus Christ, and through the graces which God sends our way every day.  Those who are becoming spiritually awakened are more prone to recognize the graces as they are bestowed on us and to think and act in accord with them.

Have a nice day. God bless you!