Jump Start # 937

Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

This week we have taken a look at a few negative attitudes that we often carry with us. Those attitudes affect our relationship with God and they tarnish our relationships with others. Some of these are so common and ingrained within our culture that we accept them without realizing that this is not the way God wants us to be. Our series has taken us through guilt, jealousy, anger and hatred. Many of those are connected together. It is not uncommon to witness these all in one day.

Unfortunately, there are many more that we could have included in this list. In the works of the flesh Paul lists: enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying. To Timothy, Paul warned that there would be some who are:  lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

What ugly lists. Why do people become consumed with these things? Why do they allow themselves to think this way? Many, do not know God. Many grew up with these attitudes being the norm. Many do not know any other way. Most of this can be summed up by the expression, “stinkin’ thinkin’”. Stinkin’ thinkin’ leads to stinkin’ behavior. Stinkin’ thinkin’ is very contagious. One person starts gossiping and soon every one else jumps in and does the same. One person starts being negative and the whole conversation turns sour. That’s what stinkin’ thinkin’ does. It dominates the work place. It is all too common at home. It is found much too often among God’s people. We accept it. We get used to it. We join in with it.

Our passage today is often directed toward behavior, but it begins with our attitudes and our way of thinking. Do not be conformed to this world—that is true in dress, attitude, lifestyle, morals, behavior and in thinking. Conformity means to go along with, blend in, accept, be a part of. The world is drifting downstream. We are upstream people. Paul told the Thessalonian church that we are of the day and not of the night. We can’t change the world, but we can certainly change ourselves. It begins with our thinking.

Renew the mind. Make the mind new. Think new. Think like Jesus. Throw out those stinky thoughts that hurt others. Through out those mean things that shouldn’t be said. Throw out this obsession the world has with self. Have this mind in you that existed in Christ. Put on the mind of Christ is what the Philippians were told. Renew. Fresh. Godly. Righteous. Good.

It’s time to get back in the driver’s seat of our thinking and not let the nightly news determine what kind of mood we will be in. Do not let the weather determine your spirit. Do not let the work place, the class room, or even the church house set the tone for how you feel and think. Rise above that and renew, make new, that mind.

Easy to say, hard to do. Hard to do when all you see is stinkin’ thinkin’. It’s hard when stinkin’ thinkin’ makes you think that way. In many ways what our verse is telling us is to take leadership of our mind. Instead of being a follower and doing what everyone else is doing, take the lead. Renew…do not be conformed…prove what is acceptable to God. Your thinking is going a different direction than others. Your thinking is based upon other things. Your thinking sees beyond the obvious. Your thinking is dominated by the word of God and you see the big picture of things.

The opposite of renew is staying old. Old paint on a wall looks dull and dirty. Old salad needs to be pitched. Old thinking doesn’t cut it. Renew. Refresh. Thinking from above. This is what Paul is driving at.

Our culture is dark and negative. The Christian isn’t. Our culture is mean and selfish. The Christian isn’t. Our culture is stuck on ‘woe is me.’ The Christian isn’t. Our culture’s favorite song is: “Gloom, despair and agony on me.” The Christian isn’t singing that song. We live here but we are not from here. We live here but we belong somewhere else. We live here but we are different than the natives here. We don’t fit in. We don’t belong. We are not comfortable. We are sojourners that are passing through. This world is not our home is our song. The thinking of this world is not our thinking.

The Christian ought to be the fountain of hope, optimism and answers. He ought to be the breath of fresh air in a hot and stale world. All of this comes from our thinking.

Renew your mind. Today would be a great day to start!

Roger