Now that we have dealt with some of the dangers of the world, we turn to the positive side of Romans 12:2, “be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” What does this mean practically for our lives and what can we do to change our thinking?

What Shapes Our Thinking

Our mind, or rather our thinking, is shaped by what we deal with every day—for better or for worse. The things we hear, see, or think about influence our inner orientation, even if we may not always be aware of it. This is true of worldly music and entertainment, among other things, as well as many internet sites and forms of social media, which often—without us noticing it—inject us with the world’s way of thinking. When we read the Word of God instead and engage with things that have eternal value, our mindset is renewed and shaped in a positive way.

Spiritual Nourishment for the Inner Man

We can compare this with the daily intake of food: God created humans as dependent creatures who cannot live without food. If someone eats the wrong food or does not eat at all, he becomes weak or sick. This applies to the body as well as to the spiritual life. Just as our outer man needs something to eat every day, so our inner man needs spiritual food every day. How easy it is to forget this in everyday life!

Feeding on the Lord Jesus

The Lord Jesus called Himself the Bread of Life and called on His disciples to feed on Him (see John 6:54–56). But what does this mean for us in practical terms? How do you do this? To eat something means to internalize it, making it part of ourselves. In order to ‘internalize’ the Lord Jesus, we must engage with Him for example, by studying His life in the four Gospels. How did He behave in the different situations of His life? What did He say and do, and why exactly in this context?

Do we find moral qualities of our Lord in the passage we are reading? What can we learn from Him? When we think about Him in this way, we feed our inner man. This in turn has practical implications for our life and thinking: we will then live on account of Him (see John 6:57), i.e. He then becomes the source, motivation and goal for our life and the Person who shapes and forms us.

These thoughts are probably not unknown to you. But the question is to what extent you really (today!) put this into practice—because the manna had to be collected daily (see Ex. 16:26–29).

Transformation Through Beholding Him

But we don’t have to limit ourselves to the Gospels. The epistles also show us many glories of the Son of God that we should reflect on. For example, we can concern ourselves with the titles that are given to Him there. What do these titles mean? What is the place like where He is right now? What is He doing now in glory? When we have His Person before our eyes in this way, the Holy Spirit does something wonderful in us: He transforms us more and more into the image of our Lord (see 2 Cor. 3:18)!

What do you do in your spare time? Is the topic ‘Occupation with the Lord Jesus’ pious theory, or daily practice for you? Ask Him today to help you to become more like Him!