Romans 12 is one of my favorite Bible passages, because it describes so simply how spiritual transformation works. What does it mean to be "transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Paul's words in Romans 12:2)? It means to change how we think and what we think about, in such a way that our life is changed for the better. Change your thinking, change your life.
Of course this is not by any means an easy task, especially today. There are many people working very hard to fill our minds with their messages -- appeals for our support, attempts to get us to buy something, and so on -- and these messages appeal to and also reinforce certain mindsets. They reinforce our acquisitiveness, our assumption that happiness can be ours if we have the right possessions or experiences. They reinforce our prejudice and fears.
None of this is in our best interest. It is in the marketer's, or the politician's, or the non-profit organization's, or the blogger's best interest.
Listen to what Richard Rohr has to say about establishing a different identity by thinking differently:
“Authentic God experience gives you another place to stand, another identity, a spacious and gracious place, which invites you to stand outside of the dominant consciousness that surrounds you and that everybody accepts as reality.
"Authentic God experience liberates you from the usual domination systems, liberates you from needing everything to be perfect or right, and liberates you to be who you really are – ordinary and poor – just like everybody else.
"Until you can be at home in the alternative Kingdom of God, you will almost always be completely conformed to the superficial systems of this world, while calling it freedom and independence. Some do it by conforming to styles and fashions of their particular groupthink, while others do it by various conformities to the political correctness of either left or right. Some even do it by conforming to the rebellious group, but that is not freedom either.
"Gospel freedom allows you to act from deep within, where the Holy Spirit dwells, and not for or against any outside group whatsoever…. Jesus’ announcement of the reign of God was telling us that culture as we’ve created it is on a track toward self-destruction and emptiness. All we have to give up is the utterly false understanding that we have of ourselves from civil society. For some reason that liberation seems to be the most difficult thing in the world!” -- Richard Rohr
Along these same lines, listen to what Old Testament scholar Walt Brueggemann says about the role of a prophet. Notice that the prophetic role is also focused around helping us challenge common cultural assumptions:
“The task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us. …Such utterance staggers and offends among the listeners. But it also opens vistas of possibility where we had not thought to go and where in fact, we are most reluctant to go.” -- Walter Brueggemann
We really need that "consciousness and perception alternative" today. What the dominant culture is offering is profoundly unhealthy and destructive. Even a surface evaluation of our society -- with its soaring rates of suicide, drug abuse, addiction, depression, and anxiety -- should be enough to convince anyone that something is seriously wrong.
A transformation is possible, and it starts by being very selective about what we fill our minds with -- focusing our reading, web surfing, social media engagement on information that is factually accurate and brings out the best in us. We trade intellectual "junk food" for the best we can find.
This is not to suggest that we try to create an information bubble or spiritual echo chamber. It is helpful to look at varying perspectives. Just make sure they are worth looking at.
What this does mean is that we get more deliberate about elevating the quality of what we take in to our minds, and what we "meditate on" -- what we mull over in our minds. It means that we get more deliberate about regularly taking in spiritual truth that offsets the lies and distortions that fill so much of the airwaves and social media feeds.
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
