Romans 12:2
“Do not conform any longer 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.”
By Guest Contributor Sharon Toews
Our minds naturally function according to the rationality of this world and tangible reality. But we are exhorted: “Do not be conformed to this world,” or, as noted in my Bible as another possible translation, “to this age.” We are called not to be conformed to this world, this age, this blip of finiteness suspended amidst an unfathomable eternity beyond the confines of time and space and our feeble understanding of “reality.”
When we accept Christ, we are set free from previous worldly notions of what is possible, realistic, and logical. Indeed our whole being is being renewed and reoriented, and yet there is significance in Paul’s usage of the word “mind,” rather than “soul” or “spirit.” It is not simply a matter of emotions, or abstract faith, or believing that one day we will live eternally in heaven. Instead the emphasis is on the transformation of our minds, that we might begin to reason within the paradigm of God’s infiniteness.
As Christians, we rejoice at answered prayer, praise God for miracles, and have faith that he will guide, and rightly so. Yet so often we treat God’s hand of intervention or voice of guidance as the exceptions to how the universe operates. We believe in a powerful God and love experiencing his presence, but our mind remains captive to the logic and reason and rationale of this age. This is not to say that we leave rationality behind in pursuit of something illogical and unreasonable. Not at all. On the contrary, we are so permeated by a new paradigm, in which what is true and logical is a glorious new world of possibilities flowing from the power and wisdom of an unfathomable God.
How can an untransformed mind, blinded and oblivious to what God can and desires to do, be able to “discern what is the will of God”? Our minds in this state are still ruled by our old train of thought, which we read is completely removed from God’s way of thinking (Isaiah 55:8-9). Indeed, we will never completely know the mind of God. In the very verses preceding this call to renew our minds we find a beautiful exultation in the infiniteness of God. “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans 11:33)
And so, while the depths of God remain an awe inspiring mystery, the renewed mind begins to wade in the possibilities of life lived in pursuit of such a God. We long to live in the will of God, his “good and acceptable and perfect” will, and the transformation of our mind enables us to fathom what God has ordained for us, which beforehand would have seemed implausible. As we begin to think and dream on a level that is illogical from the world’s perspective and take the risk of diving into the vast ocean of divine possibility, our mind is opened to perceiving the wonder of God’s will.
Waves are breaking, tides in rhythm
Vast horizons, an endless sea.
Islands, islands amid these depths
Surrounded by infinity.
The Creator's heart, strong and boundless
His redeeming hand, moving, swelling.
Hope advances, love flows freely
Washing, touching each of these shores.