In
April 2007 a powerful 8.1 magnitude earthquake in the region of the Solomon
Islands shook loose a World War II torpedo boat which had rested on the ocean
floor for over 60 years. The boat's hull was intact—explosives and all. Thankfully
no other ships collided into it because it was identified and an expert bomb
unit was deployed to detonate the torpedoes safely.
Experts
believe the PT boat is just one of many pieces of military wreckage that pepper
the coastline of the islands. This piece is particularly fascinating in that
it's the same variety of military craft U.S. President John F. Kennedy
commanded. Jay Waura of the National Disaster Management Office said, “We were
amazed by this finding, as previously this wreckage had long been sitting under
the sea and rusting in peace without anyone knowing about it.”[1]
When
I read this story I was reminded of what the Bible says in Romans 12:2, “Do not
be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and
acceptable and perfect.” Paul commands every believer not to allow the world to
change them to adopt its agenda, values, norms priorities or expectations. The
J.B. Phillips translation renders this verse, “Don’t let the world around you
squeeze you its own mold.”
Bad
thoughts, wrong ideas, misconceptions and false assumptions are like dangerous
wreckage lying dormant in our mind. If our minds are not transformed then these
submerged hazards—ideas left over from the world’s influence—can resurface and
threaten us later on. God is not interested in renewing most of your mind—not
even 99% of your mind. He wants it all. He wants to pull down every remnant of
your “pre-Christian” worldview and fill your mind with His word, His
principles, His thoughts.
The
way that we resist this brainwashing is to have our mind transformed, which in
the original Greek is the word metamorphoo.
From this compound word comes our word metamorphosis, which as we all learned
in school is the same process whereby a caterpillar is turned into a butterfly.
This word is used two other times in the NT in connection with Jesus
transfiguration (Matt 17:2, Mark 9:2).
Metamorphosis
denotes an inside-out change. What happens to the caterpillar in becoming a
butterfly happens to our minds and then our actions follow. We are not changed by
a 5-step program, behavior modification, or even attending church, but by
letting the Word of God continually fill our minds. The more we marinate in the
Word of God the more the things of this world are pushed out of our minds and
we are conformed to God’s character and point of view.
David
Jeremiah says, “The Word of God is like a dialysis machine for kidney patients
that cleanses the blood of impurities. The Word of God actively working in our
minds filters out the filth that we collect just by being under the world’s
pressure and bombarding messages. The degree of worldliness in the church is a
direct correlation to the amount of Bible reading and study that goes on by
individuals in the church.”[2]
Why
do you think transformation takes place in the mind? Why do you think Paul used
“mind” in this verse and not “soul” or “heart” or “will”? The reason is because
you are what you think. Ideas have consequences and you behave on what you
believe. Proverbs 4:23 in the TEV says, “Be careful how you think, your life is
shaped by your thoughts.”
The
reason why renewing the mind is so important is because all the issues of life
flow outward from what we think. Thoughts become words and actions. Actions
become habits. Habits become character and character becomes destiny. The mind
is like a complex computer and the software that you feed into the system is
what is going to come out—garbage in, garbage out.
The
Gideon Bible Society has been distributing little New Testaments for years and
there is no way to adequately measure the full impact of their ministry. I like
to log on to their website periodically and read some of the amazing stories of
transformation.
One
missionary in Brazil entered a story about having his pocket picked by a thief
in the market. When he arrived home the missionary discovered that little
Gideon New Testament that was in his back pocket was gone. The missionary
wrote, “He took something that looked like a wallet full of money only to
discover, when he returned to his hiding place, that it was a copy of the New
Testament.”
When
the thief found that he’d stolen a Bible he threw it against the wall of his
apartment. That night unable to sleep, the thief remembered the little book. He
walked over to where it was and picked it up. His eyes lighted on one verse,
“If any man be in Christ He is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). The drug addicted
bandit spent the rest of the night reading the Bible and surrendered his heart
to Christ. Today he is a Gideon and has dedicated his life to distributing the
Word.[3]
I
don’t know anything that can cleanse the mind and change a sinner like the Word
of God. That kind of transformation is available to each one of us, but here’s
the catch. It’s up to you to program your mind with good, nourishing content.
The Holy Spirit will not read the Bible to you and no one can start the
transformation process except you.
[1] "Quake
brings WWII PT boat up from ocean floor," Associated Press, 27 April 2007
<http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/04/27/quake.pt.boat.ap/index.html>
[2]
David Jeremiah, Living By Faith: Romans, vol.
5 (San Diego: Turning Point, 2003), 15.
[3] “A
Stolen Opportunity,” <http://www.gideons.org/ChangedLives/ChangedLivesText.aspx?source={AFF22AD7-8899-438D-B334-16725C4C37B4}>
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