What Science Tells Us About Romans 12:2

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Joyce Meyer wrote a book called The Battlefield of the Mind. We used it for our Thursday Bible study a couple of years ago, and the title stuck with me, because our mind is indeed a battlefield.

Last week I talked about the two forces at work in our thinking: values and desires. You can see this in the graphic I designed for today. One looks at the long-term benefits. The other looks at the short-term satisfaction of a supposed need. And as I said, there’s not much of a battle if we’re led more by our desires than our values.

The decision is easy when we let our desires run the show. The battle comes later, when we face the consequences of a thoughtless action.

Many people are unaware of how much attention we should pay to our mind. We bounce from day to day without much thought about how our mind is at play in what we experience.

Those of you who have followed me for some time know I speak about the mind often. Today I want to give you another reason to take it seriously, and it comes from my life verse.

Do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,…
Rom 12:2

If nothing else, this verse tells us we can change our mind patterns, and our mind patterns change our life patterns.

When a preacher says something like this and points to the Bible, it can go over our heads as just another sermon about holiness. But when modern science and research stand alongside the same idea, we tend to sit up and take notice. So today I’ll set modern research beside ancient biblical texts, and I’ll come back to this verse before we’re done.

The Bible gives us three major themes about the mind.

1. The Mind is a Spiritual Battleground.

Scripture does not treat us as passive observers of whatever thoughts wander in. We are told to police our minds.

…destroy arguments and every lofty opinion
raised against the knowledge of God,
and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
2Co 10:5

Taking a thought captive means we don’t let just any thought sit in our mind without our awareness. You may not have any control over the thoughts that come into your head, but you don’t have to pull up a chair and offer them hospitality. Modern psychology has a name for something very close to this.

COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY.

CBT is among the best-supported approaches in modern psychotherapy. Its premise is simple: your thoughts shape your feelings, and your feelings drive your behavior. To change a behavior or an emotion, you first identify and challenge the automatic, distorted thoughts behind it.

That is a practice called cognitive restructuring, and it requires that we learn to think about our thinking. (metacognition) Instead of letting anxious or hostile thoughts run wild, we catch them, evaluate them honestly, and replace them with thoughts that are true.

Paul gave the command. Modern research describes how it works. Romans points to what is at stake.

… to set the mind on the flesh is death,
but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
Rom 8:6

Do you want peace as you go through your day? As you go through your week? Your life? Then keep your focus on life in the Spirit. If your focus is on your desires and how to satisfy them, don’t be surprised when the not-so-pleasant is your soup du jour.

A second theme of the mind in the Bible is,

2 Transformation Comes Through a Renewed Mind.

This is Paul’s main thought in Rom. 12:2

Do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
Rom 12:2a

I find it disheartening that most sermons focus on the “DO NOT BE CONFORMED” rather than on the solution that is given. While this appears to be a command to avoid worldliness, it is actually telling us something quite different. The context is about the mind and what you allow to enter it. If you do not take charge of your thinking, you will end up being conformed to the world and its ways.

Real change doesn’t come from outward legalism about how to dress or what to watch. It comes from an inward rewiring of how we think.

We’re naturally comfortable with our thinking, and we assume nothing is wrong with what we believe. But until we know and understand what our mind is doing to us, we have little chance of making any lasting change in the life we experience.

That’s why this verse deserves a place in our daily prayer.

Here again, research lines up with Scripture.

For centuries, medical science believed the adult brain was fixed. Today we know the brain has

NEUROPLASTICITY:

Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to reorganize itself, forming new pathways and weakening old ones in response to learning, experience, and repeated practice. The popular summary is, “Neurons that fire together, wire together.”

Practicing new ways of thinking strengthens new pathways, and the old, destructive ones lose their grip.

I’m not claiming Paul understood neuroscience. I’m saying he gave us the command, and science now offers a mechanism consistent with it. And Paul tells us what to be renewed toward.

Have this mind in you, which is also in Christ Jesus,
Phil 2:5

A couple of decades ago the trend was WWJD, “What Would Jesus Do?” If you are consciously trying to have the mind of Christ, you don’t have to wonder.

The third theme is,

3 Our Thoughts Shape Our Identity

I’ve said it often: you are who you are because of what has gone into your mind. That’s why Solomon says to guard it.

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
Pro 4:23

In other words

PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT GOES INTO YOUR MIND.

Jesus said you can tell where a mind has been by what comes out of the mouth.

… out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Matt 12:34b

Listen to how a person talks, and you learn where they spend their thinking time.

We’ve looked at three themes about the mind as presented in the Bible.

1 SPIRITUAL BATTLEGROUND
2 TRANSFORMATION THROUGH A RENEWED MIND
3 CONNECTION BETWEEN THOUGHT AND IDENTITY

So what do we do?

God doesn’t leave us with lofty thoughts about thinking. He gives us something to do.

… whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence,
if there is anything worthy of praise,
think about these things.
Phil 4:8

A healthy mind is cultivated by deliberately filtering what it dwells on.

So be honest with yourself: how much of your thinking this past week lived in the neighborhood of Philippians 4:8? If the answer is “not much,” then Romans 12:2 is for you.

Do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed
by the renewal of your mind…
Rom 12:2

Look at where you are.

Does the way you think have much to do with how your days play out?

I believe it does.

But there is a war being waged against that kind of examination. The media, with its news cycle and its advertising, is constantly fighting for space in your head, and what it is ultimately doing is thinking for you.

So this week, do one thing.

Catch one thought before it takes a seat: the anxious one, the bitter one, the one that tells you your desires are needs.

Take it captive.

Hold it up against Philippians 4:8.

Replace it with something true.

And each morning, pray Romans 12:2.

You have a choice.

Will you let the world fill your mind, or will you take charge of it, by the renewing power of God?

The battle for the mind is won
the same way it is lost:
one thought at a time