GodSprings - February 25, 2016

Do What I Think Matter as it Does in What I Eat?

Do not conform 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. Romans 12:2 (NIV)

This year attending the Maramon Convention has helped me take few major decisions in my life. The skit based classes at the Kutti (Children’s) Pandal and few sermons delivered has been enlightening. Being at Maramon I was able to meet my old professors and senior and junior friends. But all had only one thing to say. “Jijo, you have put on a lot of weight”. God helped me see the solution also. From the time I was at Maramon every other day somebody used to talk about starting a Fruit Diet. The end point to take a decision came when we visited John uncle (Dr. Jim a former CMC student’s father). What we eat matters a lot in what we become. This is the age where many of us have now started being concerned about our health and what we take in.

We take great care in watching what we put into our bodies. As we are in the Lenten Season we also need to ask are we taking the same kind of care to watch what we put into our minds? Are we asking ourselves, what is in this movie we are about to spend two hours watching; Is this television show appropriate; or are the ideas in this book that I am about to read immoral or destructive?

Paul understood that belief determines behavior, convictions determine conduct, and attitude determines action, which means that how we think is not only important, but also indispensable. Paul challenged all Christians to take control of their minds and to stop letting the world influence the way they think and the way they act. The J.B. Phillips translation of this passage is worth having a look: “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands, and moves toward the goal of true maturity.”

How should we think then? we are not to allow the culture to determine our conduct, or let the world shape our worldview. The values, principles, beliefs, and morals that we are to hold are not to be found in the newspapers, politics, or the media of the day; they are found in God and God alone. We are to have the mind of Christ, which is the same as saying we are to have a godly mind. A godly mind lets God shape opinions, perspectives, philosophies, and morality.

Renewing our minds is more than just reading the Bible. True renewal involves meditating on what we have read, which simply means that we must spend time going over what we read, thinking about the meaning, and considering how this scripture applies to our lives personally. Also, memorizing passages from the Bible will help make what we read become a part of who we are. Just as the food we eat shapes our physical body, what we feed our minds will shape our spiritual body.