A New Mind

Ladies, how does that sound to you?  Receiving a new mind?  You may find yourself saying, “Sign me up, this old one just isn’t cutting it anymore!  It wanders, is easily confused and it can’t remember a thing!”  Trust me, I understand where you are coming from.

Our minds can feel like a war-torn battlefield.  Our thoughts compete against one another trying to direct our thinking or demand that they be displayed through emotions.  At times we feel defeated by how our brains seem to work (or don’t work).  When our thoughts turn to sad memories or past hurts it can affect our day, our week or our lifetime.

Does it have to be this way?  Does God care about our minds and how they work?  The resounding answer is “Yes!” 

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,” Romans 12:2.  This often quoted verse is truly awesome, but did you catch the “renewal” part?  We often think this verse refers to us changing as our mind slowly becomes new little by little.  Our brains certainly do affect our actions and whether we behave like the World or like Christ.  But are they really becoming new little by little, being partially old and partially new?

In Ezekiel 36:26 God states, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”  This is the eternity-altering, divine heart transplant we rejoice in as Christians.  But when God claims you, do you think he simply gives you a new heart and leaves the old brain?  Not a chance!

The heart of a person is the core of their being.  God redeems their heart which then radiates to every single piece of them.  Christ was a fully sufficient sacrifice to redeem all of us, not a partial sacrifice that only afforded a single organ.  The Bible speaks to this in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”  All the old is gone and what has come is all new.

So the “renewal of your mind” in Romans 12:2 has been accomplished.  We are able to be transformed because our mind is made new through Christ.  Just as your heart is no longer a slave to sin, neither is your mind, your intellect, your brain, or your thoughts. 

This is exciting news to me.  I too often get caught up in the mindset that my brain is what it is and that I must put up with the thoughts that I have and the emotions they produce.  This is not true!  That is why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:5, “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ”.   Command your thoughts to obey Christ through the power of Christ that resides with in you, specifically “the knowledge of God”.  

Not allowing yourself to be a slave to your thoughts is something you need to practice.  And yes, you will get better at it as you mature and gain increased knowledge of God (so pursue that).  Your brain is new, bought and paid for, but like the rest of us, is still on this side of Heaven.  We will not get to experience our fully perfect brain until the day we meet Jesus (I’m so happy I will be in my right mind at that moment!).   We still must work at becoming smart, Christ-focused women who refuse to allow our minds to sucker us into our old thought habits. 
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When your mind begins to feel like a battlefield, realize that Christ won long ago and do not allow thoughts of defeat.  Fill your mind with the weapon of His Word and grab ahold of the victory already given you by Jesus.  Think as the new creation He has made you to be, new brain and all.