And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2
Every day we are bombarded with sounds and images that our minds process without us even conscientiously thinking about it. From television, to radio, to the daily flow of information we have on our smartphones, social scientists are seeing many people who are having adverse effects from the information overload. This year, I have encountered numerous cases of young teens who have attempted suicide because their parents have limited or taken away their cell phones. Their parents did this because their teen was staying up until two or three in the morning texting or surfing social media sites and were not able to get up in the morning or they were falling asleep in school. Likewise, many of these young teens started to see their worthiness based on how many social media “friends” or “followers” they had, which often drove them to do outrageous things online to attract more people to their social media pages. Often, it is only after their parents learned about their pages or that their child attempted suicide that they realized that their child had a problem that needed Biblical intervention.
Today’s Scripture reference teaches us a fundamental truth about how to survive in a world that has such a profound effect on people. The battle for peace and stability takes place in the mind (Romans 7:14-25). In America almost one out of four school children have a diagnosed mental illness. Over 100 million Americans have a prescription for mood altering drugs. Yet, for all of the chemical and educational interventions, the numbers keep climbing. Sadly, the role of the Bible in addressing life issues has been practically eliminated by those who do not believe that there is a Spiritual role in anything, much less mental health.
The Bible teaches us that God has predestined believers to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:26-30). In eternity past, God had a plan for those that He foreknew would love Him, to change us to be like Jesus so that one day we can stand before God the Father, perfect, like Jesus. However, God wants us to be changing now to be more like Christ. This change, or transformation, takes place by the renewing of our mind by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:1-6). Our part in the process is to maintain a constant inflow of God’s Word into our hearts so that we are inspired to change from the inside (Psalms 119:11; Psalms 119:97-107). When we allow God to transform our minds to be like the mind of Christ, it removes all fear, gives us a sound mind, and our hearts and minds are kept in perfect peace by Christ in the midst of all the insanity going on around us (2 Timothy 1:7; Philippians 4:6-9). Finally, the mind of Christ enables us to love and serve our neighbors who are struggling to make it through each day, which give glory to God (Philippians 2:1-15; 1 Peter 1:13-23).
