“The apostle Paul exhorts the Ephesians to “be renewed in the spirit of your minds”. In my preparation for a spiritual formation class on the book of Ephesians, I was perplexed by Paul's statement. What does it mean to be renewed in the spirit of the mind? Didn't know that the mind had a spirit.
My studies led me to the conclusion that the spirit of the mind is that place in our minds that runs deeper than information processing. The spirit of the mind is that part of the mind that allows us to make sense of the world and our life. It is the place of our “worldview”. To explain this better, let me use the computer as a metaphor. In calling for the renewal in the spirit of the mind, Paul wants to encourage his readers to not just put a new program called “Gospel” onto an old operating system. Rather, he is urging the church to junk the old operating system. . .the old system of processing and making sense of information. . .and replace it with an entirely new operating system!
To many Christians today, the gospel has become one more program in an already overloaded and overwhelmed operating system. It takes its residence in the “religion” folder and might be held in higher esteem than other programs, but it is still just one more program. It’s easily added and installed with just a click of the mouse. . .and unfortunately, but all too true, often uninstalled with simply a click. The world looks on at this and wonders if there is a God why people’s lives are not radically transformed by the power of the gospel. And, the answer is simple. The gospel cannot run as merely a program.
You see, the gospel can’t be downloaded to our lives, for our personal use and enhancement. You can’t simply add the gospel to the old operating system. No the gospel is the power of God precisely because it actually is the new operating system of our lives. The gospel redefines reality and reframes all of life.
The prophet Isaiah cried out “I am undone” when the presence of God fell upon him. And, that’s what the gospel does. It un-does us. It undoes the old operating system and replaces it all at once.. Everything we thought and perceived about life and reality is no longer operable and compatible, and “all things have become new”. Not only does it render the old system inoperable, but it does a thorough scan on all the running programs of our lives and renders many of them incompatible with the new software. Those programs may not be deleted from our lives, but must be reinstalled and learn to run in an entirely different way. The gospel, praise God, erupts and disrupts our lives all at once. Everything about our old way of doing life is incompatible with the new life of God pulsing inside us. And, this is why Paul calls us to be renewed in the deepest recesses of our minds. . .the way we perceive all of life and reality must experience radical renewal in the way of Jesus. And, I give thanks to God that I am being renewed day by day in the spirit of my mind, to resemble more and more the image of my Creator”.
Of course, the words above are more than just a sample of my teaching. Some of these thoughts lie at the core of my heart regarding THE GREAT NEED TO REFRAME AND RESHAPE HOW WE PRESENT AND TRAIN PEOPLE IN THE GOSPEL IN OUR EVANGELISM AND DISCIPLESHIP TODAY. I am deeply convicted about this as I realize that many, many of my peers, both near and afar, have a fundamental misunderstanding of the implications of the gospel in their life. We need prayer and we need new ways of being as Christians that help to bring a sense of potent reality to the gospel today.
My studies led me to the conclusion that the spirit of the mind is that place in our minds that runs deeper than information processing. The spirit of the mind is that part of the mind that allows us to make sense of the world and our life. It is the place of our “worldview”. To explain this better, let me use the computer as a metaphor. In calling for the renewal in the spirit of the mind, Paul wants to encourage his readers to not just put a new program called “Gospel” onto an old operating system. Rather, he is urging the church to junk the old operating system. . .the old system of processing and making sense of information. . .and replace it with an entirely new operating system!
To many Christians today, the gospel has become one more program in an already overloaded and overwhelmed operating system. It takes its residence in the “religion” folder and might be held in higher esteem than other programs, but it is still just one more program. It’s easily added and installed with just a click of the mouse. . .and unfortunately, but all too true, often uninstalled with simply a click. The world looks on at this and wonders if there is a God why people’s lives are not radically transformed by the power of the gospel. And, the answer is simple. The gospel cannot run as merely a program.
You see, the gospel can’t be downloaded to our lives, for our personal use and enhancement. You can’t simply add the gospel to the old operating system. No the gospel is the power of God precisely because it actually is the new operating system of our lives. The gospel redefines reality and reframes all of life.
The prophet Isaiah cried out “I am undone” when the presence of God fell upon him. And, that’s what the gospel does. It un-does us. It undoes the old operating system and replaces it all at once.. Everything we thought and perceived about life and reality is no longer operable and compatible, and “all things have become new”. Not only does it render the old system inoperable, but it does a thorough scan on all the running programs of our lives and renders many of them incompatible with the new software. Those programs may not be deleted from our lives, but must be reinstalled and learn to run in an entirely different way. The gospel, praise God, erupts and disrupts our lives all at once. Everything about our old way of doing life is incompatible with the new life of God pulsing inside us. And, this is why Paul calls us to be renewed in the deepest recesses of our minds. . .the way we perceive all of life and reality must experience radical renewal in the way of Jesus. And, I give thanks to God that I am being renewed day by day in the spirit of my mind, to resemble more and more the image of my Creator”.
Of course, the words above are more than just a sample of my teaching. Some of these thoughts lie at the core of my heart regarding THE GREAT NEED TO REFRAME AND RESHAPE HOW WE PRESENT AND TRAIN PEOPLE IN THE GOSPEL IN OUR EVANGELISM AND DISCIPLESHIP TODAY. I am deeply convicted about this as I realize that many, many of my peers, both near and afar, have a fundamental misunderstanding of the implications of the gospel in their life. We need prayer and we need new ways of being as Christians that help to bring a sense of potent reality to the gospel today.
1 comment:
Post a Comment