Renovation of the Heart
Transforming the Mind, Part 1 (1|5)
Pages 95-100
• Spiritual Formation and the Thought Life
• What Thoughts Are
• Ideas
• Spiritual Formation Must Transform Ideas
• The Changing of Ideas Is Extremely Difficult
• Images
TOGETHER read the devotional and the scripture.
INDIVIDUALLY take notes in your journal on what stands out.
Colossians 1:13 (NIV) He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Philippians 2:1-5 (NIV) Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.
Romans 12:2 (NIV) Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will.
TOGETHER pray for one another.
INDIVIDUALLY answer the questions in your journal - process your devotional notes and pray.
Spiritual Formation and the Thought Life
”The ultimate freedom we have as human beings is the power to select what we will allow or require our minds to dwell upon. We are not totally free in this respect. But we do have great freedom here, and even though ‘dead in… trespasses and sins’ (Ephesians 2:1), we still have the ability and responsibility to try to retain God in our knowledge - if only in an inadequate and halting manner. And those who do so will surely make progress toward him; for if we truly do seek God as best we can, he who always knows what is really in our hearts, will certainly make himself known to us.”
What does this mean and what is your response to it?
What Thoughts Are
“You can’t evoke thoughts by feeling a certain way, but you can evoke and to some degree control feelings by directing your thoughts. Our power over our thoughts is of great and indispensable assistance in directing and controlling our feelings, which themselves are not directly under the guidance of our will. We cannot just choose our feelings.”
What are three thoughts that have occupied your mind this week? Why those thoughts, and not some others?
“As our senses present a landscape for our bodies and their actions, so our thoughts present the ‘lifescape’ for our will and our lives as a whole. Within that ‘thought lifescaspe’ (including perceptions) we make the decisions that determine what we will do and whom we will become.”
What/How have the three thoughts from the previous question shaped your thought lifescape? How have you responded to that?
Ideas
“For all their importance to human life, ideas are never capable of definition or precise specification; and yet people never stop trying to define them, in their vain efforts to control them. Ideas are broadly inclusive, historically, developing ways of interpreting things and events, which, for all their power, often do not emerge into the consciousness of the individual. Therefore, it is extremely difficult for most people to recognize which ideas are governing their lives and how those ideas are governing their lives.”
What are the main ideas that rule our society today? Do you think they favor a godly life or hinder it? Why?
Spiritual Formation Must Transform Ideas
“Christian spiritual formation is inescapably a matter of recognizing in ourselves the idea system (or systems) of evil that governs the present age and the respective culture (or various cultures) that constitute life away from God. The needed transformation is very largely a matter of replacing in ourselves those idea systems of evil (and their corresponding cultures) with the idea system that Jesus Christ embodied and taught and with a culture of the kingdom of God. This is truly a passage from darkness to light.”
What are the major ideas Jesus brought into human history, and how do you see them affecting the contemporary world? How is Jesus’ light in the darkness being illuminated in today’s culture?
The Changing of Ideas Is Extremely Difficult
“To change governing ideas, whether in the individual or the group, is one of the most difficult and painful things in human life. Genuine “conversion” is a wrenching experience. - Jesus himself confronted and undermined an idea system and its culture, which in turn killed him. He proved himself greater than any idea system or culture, however, and lives on. He is continuing the process of a worldwide idea shift that is crucial to his perpetual revolution, in which we each are assigned a part.”
What is your response to this statement?
Images
“Jesus understood the great significance of images and has, indeed, become one himself. Intentionally. He also carefully selected an image that brilliantly conveys himself and his message: the cross. The cross presents the lostness of man, as well as the sacrifice of God and the abandonment to God that brings redemption.”
Was the distinction between ideas and images made clear in this chapter? Where do you see images most at work in our lives today?
EXTRA READING:
“I would like the angels of Heaven to be among us. I would like an abundance of peace. I would like full vessels of charity. I would like rich treasuries of mercy. I would like cheerefulness to preside over all. I would like Jesus to be present.”
- Brigid of Kildare (451 - 525)