Renovation— What your mind & Home have in common PT. 1
Main Idea:
the Holy Spirit — the Master Renovator — has moved in and there are updates He wants to make to our thinking.
Why It Matters:
What we believe about God Frames the kind of relationship we have with Him, and what we believe about ourselves impacts everything from our personal peace to relationships with others.
Diving Deeper:
Imagine an old home, worn by years of usage. Its paint chipped, windows dulled, and roof sagging. Inside is no better. The walls are covered with dated designs and the kitchen is a relic of a past era. Then the transformation begins. The kitchen is gutted and stripped bear. It’s fitted with stainless steel appliances gleamed under recessed lighting, and granite countertops. The bathrooms exchange their tired tiles for elegant ceramics and shimmering fixtures. The home goes from OUTDATED TO RENOVATED. It’s a satisfying and familiar scene. Honestly 99% of the time I use the word renovation it’s in relation to a home project like that. But believe it or not, the word renovation actually has Biblical implications. When I was studying Romans 12:2 I noticed something interesting. It says is,
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.
The word that flew off the pages for me was “renewal”. This word renewal in its original language is “anakainōsis”. And it literally means, a complete change for the better. It means to “re-new” or to make something “new” again. This word anakainōsis can literally be translated as “renovation”. So we can read Romans 12:2 as, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renovation of your mind…”
Here’s the implication that jumped out at me: In many ways, our minds are like homes that are old and outdated.
But our minds can be renovated.
We don’t have to settle for unhealthy, negative, or false beliefs in our minds– but our minds can be completely renovated. When you made the decision to follow Jesus, Scripture tells us that Jesus came into your inner being to live in union with you. In 1 Corinthians 3:16, the Apostle Paul says, “Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?”
Friend, you are God’s Home, and your mind is a part of God’s Home. Maybe you’re struggling with unwanted thoughts in your life? Like old paint on worn walls, the thoughts have long been in your mind. Thoughts that say you’re destined to be like all the women in your family. Thoughts that say you’re destined to continue to be addicted. Thoughts that say you’re not worthy of acceptance and love. Thoughts that say God has turned His back on you. I’m with you. More often than I’d like to admit, I find myself in negative thought-loops about all kinds of things: not feeling good enough and questioning what do I have to offer. Thoughts of fear of the future, or feeling like I’m not achieving as much as I should. I get it, but if we can assess our thinking about God and ourselves, transformation will follow. It starts with what we believe about who God is.
So what do you believe about God? That’s just a great question to ask ourselves. In 2020 the Barna Group released findings that said only 1 out 10 Americans believe that they are loved by God unconditionally, He is involved in their life, and are certain that He exists. Only 1 out 10! What this says to me is that there are many misconceptions about who God is. I believe that there are four main incorrect beliefs about who God is that are pretty common:
The Judge
This is the belief that God is only interested in your good deeds. And when you’re doing good deeds, He’s happy and blesses you. But when you’re doing negative things, He is angry and punishes you. With the “Judge belief” you’re only as valuable as your last good deed. You never have a sense of security in your relationship with God because you’re constantly focused on your good deeds outweighing your negative ones. This is the perspective of God that I had for a long time. Here following Jesus is a legalistic matter.
The Genie
This is the belief that God is only to be engaged with when we need something. Our wish is His command. This is the belief that a personal relationship with God isn’t necessary. Only asking for what we need and say thank you in the end. In this belief God’s plan for your life is really whatever your plan is for your life. God plays a supporting role in the narrative of your life.
The Dictator
This is the belief that God is controlling. He does some good, but He causes a lot of pain in your life and the world as well. He’s going to do whatever He wants to do so your life, actions, and contributions do not matter a ton. In this belief we are merely pawns in God’s cosmic game.
The Distant Deity
This is the belief that God is uninterested and uninvolved in our daily lives. He’s too busy doing more important things like running the universe to care about our small problems. He’s given us the gift of life but we shouldn’t expect Him to care about the details of it.
Obviously these four categories do not capture every negative thought or false idea we may have about God. These sort of misconceptions come from messages that we picked up from our religious backgrounds, our families of origin, or life circumstances. Our ideas and beliefs about God could also come from our personal experiences with God. For example, say you prayed for a specific answer about a move or career change and God felt silent. As a result, you began to internalize that He is a Distant Deity or maybe He’s not answering because He’s being the Judge punishing us for your sins. Maybe you prayed for a circumstance to not happen, but it did anyway so you began to believe He’s the Dictator.
What you believe about God frames your experience of God.
What’s true is if we believe that God is angry, judgmental, distant, and inconsistent, it will be more challenging to grow in an intimate relationship with Him until we address those thoughts and beliefs. Think about it for a moment in terms of our human relationships. If you have a relationship with a family member or friend and they’ve been angry, judgmental, distant, and inconsistent over the course of that relationship, how much vulnerability, time, or trust would you find yourself giving to them? How intimate would you be with them?
It would probably be with hesitation and lots of boundaries, right? In that same way, what we believe about God acts as a gate. Our beliefs either open us up to deeper relationship with God, or close us off to deeper relationship with God. What’s a better view of God? In Romans 5:6-11 the Apostle Paul describes God this way to the Christians in Rome,
6 For when the time was right, the Anointed One came and died to demonstrate his love for sinners who were entirely helpless, weak, and powerless to save themselves. 7 Now, would anyone dare to die for the sake of a wicked person? We can all understand if someone was willing to die for a truly noble person. 8 But Christ proved God’s passionate love for us by dying in our place while we were still lost and ungodly! 9 And there is still much more to say of his unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in my sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God. 10 So if while we were still enemies, God fully reconciled us to himself through the death of his Son, then something greater than friendship is ours. Now that we are at peace with God, and because we share in his resurrection life, how much more we will be rescued from sin’s dominion! 11 And even more than that, we overflow with triumphant joy in our new relationship of living reconciled to God—all because of Jesus Christ!
The Apostle Paul shares four truths about the nature and character of God the Father:
God is Agape Love
Verses 6 to 8 tell us that Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross was a demonstration of the Father’s love for us. It was the highest form of love which agape love. It’s love that’s completely separate from our good or bad deeds. He demonstrated His agape love before we were born or ever thought about putting our faith in Him. He showed His love for us when we were helpless, weak and powerless to save ourselves.
God is Gracious
Grace is mercy, compassion, and ability that we do not deserve. And In verses 9 to 10 we’re told that through Jesus’ blood that was shed, the Father has declared each one of us righteous– or “right in your inner being” and “in right relationship with Him” and no longer awaiting punishment. The Father is not waiting on us to fail. He’s not looking for an opportunity to punish us because of the reality of the Gospel or Good News. His Son Jesus took our punishment and gave us access to His divine Life.
God is a Generous
In verse 10 the Apostle Paul puts it this way, “Now that we are at peace with God, and because we share in his resurrection life, how much more we will be rescued from sin’s dominion!” God’s desire is to partner with you and share His Life and Power. This life that God shares with us impacts our lives today. It’s not just a later, after we go to Heaven thing.
God is Intimate
In verse 11 we’re told that we can rejoice because we have been reconnected to the Father in this intimate relationship with Him because of Jesus. God is personal. He is close and we now have the opportunity to experience the intimacy and closeness that Jesus experienced because of His sacrifice and our faith in Him. The consistent theme that we see from the very being of the Bible is that God is present with human beings.
The old walls of misconceptions and false beliefs about who God is must come down. We have to become aware of them, then understand where they came from and invite the Holy Spirit to renovate our minds and reveal to us the truth of who our God actually is. Let these four truths above be pillars in the structure of your mind. Take time to read and reflect on Biblical stories that express them. Stories like God choosing Abraham & Sarah in Genesis 12, Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in Luke 11:38-44, or the parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32. Write down what stands out to you from these stories and turn those observations into prayers or conversations with God.
BOTTOMLINE:
God is Agape Love, Gracious, Generous, and Intimate. Put simply, He is our Good Father. He’s our loving Father that has generously lavished compassion and grace on us. He is intimately close. One of my pastors used to say, “God is bigger, better, and more beautiful than we could ever imagine”. That’s the goal. To see Him as bigger, better, and more beautiful everyday. Renovating our minds and experiencing the reality of transformation is something that we can’t do ourselves. But through partnering with the Holy Spirit our minds can go from OUTDATED TO RENOVATED everyday.
