Rom 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Do you ever have negative thoughts? If there were the technology to do it, would you volunteer to have your thoughts for even one day be played on the screen before the congregation on Sunday morning? Personally I would just as soon let someone else volunteer. Why, because my thinking is still in the process of renewal.
According to recent brain research, 90-99% of our thinking is in what is called the “non-conscious metacognitive” level. This brain activity operates 24 hours a day, even while we are sleeping, with about four hundred billion actions per second. This non-conscious level drives the conscious cognitive level. Dr. Caroline Leaf says, “When we direct our rest by introspection, self-reflection, and prayer; when we catch our thoughts; when we memorize and quote Scripture; when we develop our mind intellectually, we…improve brain function as well as mind, body, and spiritual health…meditating on the elements of Jesus’ teachings rewires healthy new circuits in the brain.” (Switch on Your Brain).
Romans 12:2 says that inner transformation begins with the renewing of our minds. Because the thinking of the natural man (governed by our sinful nature) is so darkened, we need to replace the self-destructive lies which we have believed with God’s Truth. We cannot think or reason our way out of darkness into light, we need God’s Word. The mind of sinful man is death (it is hostile to God) but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. Dead men do not think straight. God transform us from the inside out (His part) as we learn His Word (our part).
Brain research only confirms what we have already learned and experienced personally – God’s Word actually creates healing and wholeness in our brains, changes the whole trajectory of our lives, turns self-destructive thoughts into life-giving thoughts and brings emotional healing and heath to us. Inner transformation begins with the renewal of our minds.