I was recently faced with the question “does God need to
change my mind?” And if my mind needs to be changed was it wrong
before?
The last six years I have been on a journey with God that has taken
me to deeper and deeper levels of knowing Him. Now I’ve been a
Christian since I was six years old. So I’ve known Christ as my savior
and my sweet friend for almost as long as I can remember, but there are
things that I really didn’t learn in the church that I grew up in. I was
taught that it was important to read the Bible everyday, but I didn’t
have a hunger for God’s word because it felt like an obligation. That
was before I learned I could ask God to give me a hunger for His word
and before I understood that through knowing the Bible I would know Him.
I’ve labored many times over the years trying to figure out what God
wanted me to do in different situations. Sometimes feeling like I got it
right and sometimes feeling like I had absolutely no idea what I was
doing. It was years, years before I ever heard someone explain that
people hear God in different ways, and that He wants to talk to me even
more than I want to hear Him.
Those are just examples and they’re pretty basic. God has been
challenging my thinking in areas that I thought I had a solid Biblical
answer for, wait for it, doctrine. *Gasp* What did she say? Did she
really say God was challenging doctrine. Yep, that’s right. Can you
imagine that the Creator of the universe is has the nerve to challenge
my long held belief that I have been taught by men. I say yes and Amen.
Recently I attended a conference held in a church that was a
denomination different than the one I attend. The speaker was from a
denomination different than the one I attend. Do you think I heard ideas
that we’re different from the church experiences I’ve been used to? You
bet I did. I asked God to open my spiritual eyes and ears, and I began
to realize that God was prompting me to change my thinking in an area.
Romans 12:2 tells us, “do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the
will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” NASB
God tells us that we should change our minds, our minds should be
renewed as He reveals truth. So was I wrong before? Yes, I was, because I
was limiting God in my life. I was expecting Him to fit the boundaries
that I had learned, but we know that God has no bounds. There are some
truths that must remain firm. There is one true God which is the
trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus the Son of God came to
Earth as a baby born of a virgin. He lived as a man and died on the
cross for the forgiveness of our sins so that we may be reunited with
God. He ascended to Heaven to sit on the throne at the right hand of the
Father. He sent the Holy Spirit to us as our comforter, intercessor,
and equipper. The Bible is the inspired word of God. These things must
be my unwavering foundation. As I grow spiritually I realize that my
mind must change. I am dead and Christ lives in me. Therefore my mind is
Christ’s mind. My mind needs to be renewing and changing so I may
become more like Him.
Do you need to change your mind?
