Renovation of the Heart
Transforming the Mind, Part 1 (5|5)
Pages 115-118
• Images and Sayings
• Finding Others Who Are Walking the Walk
• Doing Justice of the Power of Thought
TOGETHER read the devotional and the scripture.
INDIVIDUALLY take notes in your journal on what stands out.
Romans 15:6 (NIV) May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:14-16 (NIV) The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Colossians 3:1-4 (NIV) Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
TOGETHER pray for one another.
INDIVIDUALLY answer the questions in your journal - process your devotional notes and pray.
Images and Sayings
”We need to be in the presence of images, both visual and auditory (good sayings, poetry, and songs). These can constantly direct our minds towards God, Jesus Christ, the Spirit, and the church (people of God). - Today we as a culture are schizophrenic on such matters. We want to say it doesn’t make any difference what we look at or hear. This, no doubt, is because we want to be “free” to show anything and to see anything - no matter how evil and revolting.”
What are some steps we can take to make sure that thought is rightly directed and used in the process of spiritual formation? How can images help that process?
Finding Others Who Are Walking the Walk
“Spiritual formation cannot, in the nature of the case, be a “private” thing, because it is a matter of whole-life transformation. You need to seek out others in your community who are pursuing the renovation of the heart.”
Seeking out others in your community who are pursuing the renovation of the heart takes energy, intentionality, commitment, and vulnerability. Who in your life (outside of Gospel Community) can you seek out to journey with?
“If we take in God through his Word and walk the way of those who know by experience the transformation of the mind, that transformation, with its natural and supernatural effects, will come to us and pervade every dimension of our person. God will see to it!”
What is your response to this statement? Do you agree?
Doing Justice of the Power of Thought
“Those who would understand and practice spiritual formation in the way of Jesus Christ should not deny the power of thought just because some people make a religion of it and would use it as a basis for helping and healing with no reference to Christ. For effectual spiritual formation in Christ, we must have a realistic understanding and utilization of the powers of thought.”
Do you agree with this statement? How have you seen/experienced people make a religion of it (the power of thought) and would use it as a basis for helping and healing with no reference to Christ?
“The biblical way of personal transformation must be set in clear contrast to other ways, even if they utilize what looks like biblical language. Honesty and thoroughness is required. Many “alternative” paths of human help and healing offer themselves today only because Jesus’ formation is not commonly or powerfully experienced by human beings - or even known about. The transformation of our thought lives by taking on the mind of Christ - his ideas, images, information, and patterns of thinking - opens the way to deliverance of every dimension of the human self from the oppressive powers of darkness.”
What does this mean and what is your response?
EXTRA READING:
“I do not call the Law an ‘OLD Testament’ if I understand it in the Spirit. The Law becomes an ‘OLD Testament’ only for those who wish to understand it carnally, but for those who understand it and apply it in the Spirit and in the Gospel sense, the Law is ever new and the two Testaments are a NEW Testament for us, not because of their date in time but because of the NEWness of meaning. For those who do not respect the covenant of love, even the Gospels are ‘OLD.’”
- Origen of Alexandria (185 - 253)