The will of God for His children is that we be Christlike. Paul declares that the purpose of all the ministries and the provision of God is to bring us "unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13). The transformation of our individual lives to one that is acceptable to God is accomplished in the manner according to Romans 12:1, 2.
Most readers will know that Adam was created a spiritual being capable of fellowship with God. In order to communicate with God and fulfil his directive, Adam must have possessed great intellectual powers. After his fall, man lost his spiritual awareness and his mind was no longer dominated by the spirit, but by his senses; he became carnally minded and has been that way ever since. When we accept Jesus as Savior we bring to Him a mind controlled by the senses and filled with all of the ideas, biases, opinions, hurts, fears, and experiences of a time away from God. In our acceptance of Christ we become new creatures (2 Corinthians 5:17); God forgave our sins and imparted to us a new life. The one thing that God did not do however was to blot out our minds. After conversion, we have the same mind full of stuff - good and bad - that we had before we were converted. The difference however is the awareness that we are now children of God.
Some have asked: "Why didn't God reprogram our minds?" If we were programmed, worshipping God in Spirit and Truth would be purely automatic. It would not require us to use the power of choice to choose to be true worshippers, the kind the Father seeks to worship Him (John 4:24). Though God did not reprogram our minds at the time of conversion, He made provision for its renewing by the power of the Holy Spirit who would lead us into all truths (John 16:13-15). He would create the mind of Christ within us, and enable us to become that which God has made us in Christ Jesus. As children of God we begin to understand spiritual things - those things related to the will and purpose of God - because we are partakers of His divine nature. We now have the mind of Christ. Providing we submit to His leading in our lives, the Holy Spirit is more than capable, and willing, to help us in our resolve to "adopt" the mind of Christ in our life here on earth.
What does it mean to be transformed? The word "transform" in the Greek is "metamorphousthe", from which we get the English word "metamorphosis" which means the change of something from one form to another. For example, a worm/larvae passes through various stages to become a butterfly. Mind renewal is not a one-shot deal. Paul's use of the word "renewing" - present tense - suggests that it is an ongoing process, and something that the child of God have to undertake every single day. In Christ we are like the butterfly, but to grow in that new life we must be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
What is the state of your mind? Is it being renewed day by day?
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