In the last two blogs posts here and this one here, I talked a lot about doctrine. I shared why the true sound doctrine is important and why one should watch it closely. I also talked about where this particular (true sound) doctrine stems – from the Word of God, the Bible.
Please check the blogs out for clearer understanding of what doctrine is all about. I’ve linked them above. But how can I begin to grow the right doctrine for my life? How do I go about it? Well, that’s what I hope to talk about in this blog.
Let’s get right into it.
In Romans 12:1 – 2, Paul exhorts the believers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer their bodies a living sacrifice to God, holy and acceptable to Him, this being their spiritual act of worship. He further admonishes them to conform not any longer to the pattern of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of their minds. They will then be able to test and approve what God’s will is, His good, pleasing and perfect will.
What’s the entry point for food? The mouth. What’s the entry point for ideas? Ears and eyes. Put your finger right there as we continue. The food gets into the body, gets processed, then the body gets what it needs for use presently; some is of course stored for future use. The rest heads out as waste.
In the same way, the words, teaching, ideas, pictures, name them… that get into a person also get processed. They get processed through the mind. My mind will begin to process what it sees and hears. I will then react or respond through my thoughts, then words and then deeds, as I deem necessary.
The mind does not have a waste pipe. Whatever we take in is stored in a particular compartment. Scientists say information is either preserved in the conscious, subconscious or unconscious mind. I tend to believe this. In my own experience, there are things that I remember actively, subconsciously and some, I would have to really jog my mind to remember.
The mind works with the computer principle of GIGA-Garbage In Garbage Out! You only get out what you have put in- much the same principle of sowing and reaping. The law of GIGA works with another law- the law of consistency! You keep putting in what you deem most important for you. If you keep pumping your head with pornographic filth, out of you will come vulgarities, perversity, wickedness, and all forms of immorality.
No wonder Solomon said,
“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” (Prov 4:23 KJV)
Jesus nailed it when he said,
“…for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” (Matt 12:34b KJV)
Elsewhere, Jesus added:
“Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, defileth a man… For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man…” (Matt 15: 11,19 – 20a KJV)
Is it no wonder that Paul tells the believers to be transformed? How? By the renewing of their minds! You mean transformation is happening simply by the renewing of the mind? Interesting, but so true. It is at the mind level that transformation begins to happen.
I want to remind you that our focus continues to be formation. You and I want to be formed into the women God wants us to be. The transformation Paul is talking about will be critical to this formation. You and I must therefore pay attention to how this transformation will happen.
What is therefore renewing?
I would define renew simply as to be made new; to get something that was old and to begin to make it new. With reference to the mind, this means I had an old way and pattern of thinking. I now begin to think in a different way; a new way.
This realization then brings me to the next step: Getting to know and understand what it is that will renew my mind. In Philippians 4:8, Paul says:
“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praise worthy—meditate on these things.” (NKJV)
Other versions will render the word meditate in the above Scripture as think. In the light of what we have understood from God’s Word, you and I know that the Word must be the basis of everything we take in. It is the embodiment of all virtuous and praise worthy material. It is the beginning point and foundation for our renewal and build up in the faith.
We must therefore feed our minds with God’s Word. we then must keep our minds from getting fed with things we know will contaminate our minds; things that will be detrimental to our transformation, in light of Philippians 4:8.
I had been an ardent reader of the so-called romantic novels. I had also been an enthusiastic consumer of the newly introduced soap operas on television in our country at the time, with a movie often thrown in here and there. As God began His work in me as a new believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, an uneasiness about what I was consuming began growing in me. I slowly but surely began to realize that I would never be at peace consuming both God’s Word and all these others.
As much as I was growing in fellowship and communion with God in His Word and prayer, there was a sense to which I felt like I had moved several steps back in this growing relationship. This would happen when I would read the kind of novels I’d been accustomed to reading or when I would watch a soap. Though difficult at the time, I said no to the soaps, novels and the kind of movies I was consuming. This worked to take me away from watching too much TV as well. It had become a default way of spending my free time.
My focus turned to God’s Word, to prayer, and to retraining my mind to appreciate wholesome literature, un uphill task after the fast-paced exciting novels I’d been accustomed to. Wholesome literature would strengthen what I was already getting from God’s Word. Peter’s words come to mind in 2Peter 3:1:
“Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.” (NIV)
Pure minds, as the KJV renders wholesome thinking, are the result of a mind fed with the right material. I hope you have got the bottom-line of what I have been saying. If you want the true sound doctrine to be formed in you, feed your mind with God’s Word, the Bible. If you want God-ordained transformation, then get renewed in your mind by the Word of God. If you want the right renewal of the mind, it is the renewal by the Word of God.
Look out for our next blog where I’ll share how then you can practically get into God’s Word in a way that you will begin to see God transform you as He forms you into the virtuous, noble woman, He wants you to be.