We Are Transformed Daily as God Renews Our Minds

Do you want to have greater resistance to temptation, more wisdom in decision making, and increased influence among your friends? Each of these skills is rooted in your mental patterns and in meditation.

We must remember that rewiring our minds is an ongoing spiritual operation. Though we are redeemed at Calvary, the process of repairing the mind isn’t a onetime event. It’s a process, which is explained in Romans 12:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice… 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 12:1-2, emphasis mine

To fulfill God’s good plan and accomplish His will, we must stop thinking the way the world thinks and start thinking the way He does.

How? With biblical meditation. It’s our greatest tool and most effective technique.

As we ponder, picture, and personalize God’s Word, we begin looking at life through His lens, viewing the world from His perspective. Our thoughts become happier and holier and brighter — and so do we.

We practice biblical meditation by noting, quoting, and devoting ourselves to whatever passage of Scripture we’re reading or studying, based on the premise that God’s Word is flawless, faultless, and unfailing. Meditation helps and heals the mind while shoring up the soul. It lessens anxiety, reduces stress, and generates peace.

It’s springtime as I’m writing this, and last night my wife, Katrina, and I had supper on our back porch. The birds were fluttering around the bird feeders, and the geraniums were blooming in the pots. We talked about meditation, and Katrina recalled that Isaac was the first person in the Bible who is specifically said to have meditated. Genesis 24:63 says,

He [Isaac] went out to the field one evening to meditate.

“I wonder what he meditated about,” Katrina said. “The Bible hadn’t yet been written, so he didn’t have much tangible Scripture. But he was surrounded by the beauty of God’s creation, he had a godly heritage, and his spiritual experiences in life had been rich. He was the miracle son of Abraham and Sarah, born in fulfillment of divine promises. As a youth, he’d experienced the sacrifice of Mount Moriah, and he had heard the voice of an angel. He knew God’s promise for his descendants, though he still had no wife and was grieving over the death of his mother.

“I suppose he simply reviewed his life,” continued Katrina, “composed his heart, thought about God, listened to the birds and brooks, prayed some, and wondered by faith what God was going to do with him.”

Interestingly, Isaac’s meditation was interrupted by the arrival of a caravan returning from Mesopotamia and bearing the woman who would soon become his wife.

As we meditate, God guides and changes our thoughts, helps us process our griefs and sorrows, enables us to soak up the wonder of His greatness, and prepares us for what He has planned for us. That’s what He did for the heroes of Scripture, and that’s what He’ll do for us.

Excerpted with permission from The Lost Art of Biblical Meditation by Robert J. Morgan, copyright Robert J. Morgan.

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Your Turn

Do you have a practice of meditation or mindfulness? Do you take time often to simply reflect on Scripture? What are other ways you go about “being still and knowing that He is God”? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!