Have you ever read a scripture in one version, only to read it in another and get so much more from it!
Well it happened to me! Many of us are familiar with Romans 12:2, 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.
We’re not even going to get on how we never memorize that second half of the scripture, or maybe that’s just me. Any who, I read that same verse in the New Living Translation and received totally new revelation.
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Change the way I think?
OH!
I had to pause and ask myself, "What does this really mean?" Its clear, this Christian life isn’t just about changing all my music choices to gospel music or Christian hip hop, or saying no to things that once tempted me?
So, I started to spend some time with the Lord. I prayed about ways to change the way I thought and came up with many things I need to change. Yet, these three things stuck out to me the most.
1. Change the way we think about ourselves 2. Change the way we think about others 3. Change the way we think about God
Change the way we think about ourselves
If you have ever thought you were, fat, not equipped, jealous, overwhelmed, anxious or insecure, you are like 100% of everyone else in this world. But the good news God doesn’t think those things about us!
Psalm 139: 17-18 says 17 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! 18 I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!
Let’s think about a beach, for every grain of sand on that beach and every beach on Earth. The Lord has that many GOOD THOUGHTS about you! How would our lives changed if we believed what God said about us?
Change the way we think about others
Before I knew the Lord, I was a bully! I made fun of people, I tripped people in the hallway and just made be feel horrible about themselves. So, changing the way I thought about others was a big hurdle for me to jump over. The Bible instructs us to fix our thoughts on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8).
Could that not be more relevant when we think about our coworker, family members or children?
What if we valued others the same way, God valued them?
What if we thought of others the way God sees them?
Change the way we think about God
I have heard so many false things about the Lord through the years, examples ranging from God is mad at me, He’s the big guy upstairs or God has bigger things to worry about. And all of those are so far from the truth. God is good, just, mercy, full of grace and forgiveness and sooooo many other attributes that combat those false thoughts that God is far away and doesn’t love us. There is nothing that can separate us from the love from Him, nothing we’ve done or haven’t completed will make Him leave us.
If we are able to combine the way we think about ourselves, others and God will find his pleasing and perfect will for our life. There is victory in releasing the negative thoughts and allowing the Lord to renew us from the inside out. When we allow our thoughts to be more like Him, we will see Him radically change our lives!
"When in doubt, think about what you are thinking about!" Victoria Riollano
Romans 12:2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think [about ourselves, others and Him]. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Rachel Chardéa Brown is a speaker, teacher and writer who encourages women to walk in the identity the Lord has given them. She strongly believes we all have God-given authority due to the identity we possess. Rachel Chardéa Brown, not to be mistaken for every other Rachel Brown in the world, is a self-proclaimed children’s pastor as she ministers to her son Apollos alongside her husband EJ. Like many other millennials, Rachel is flourishing in a career that highlights her college major. She uses her mathematics degree to count how many dirty diapers her son has in a day, the cost of date night in addition to a babysitter and, often, the minutes until bedtime. Rachel loves to edutain (it’s a word, look it up) with truth from the Word, love from Jesus and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Rachel resides in Memphis, TN with EJ and Apollos.
