In Romans 12:2, we are told, “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.” A huge part of living with a renewed mind is learning to identify lies we have believed about God, ourselves and our circumstances and to replace those lies with His truth. As we are faithful to this process, we are led into deeper levels of inner healing and self-awareness.
Recently, I was reflecting on an area of my life where I had believed a lie and meditating on the truth that God revealed to me. Sometimes in the process, there will be times when truth doesn’t feel true. When you have lived with certain lies for years or decades and discover God’s truth, it can feel foreign…new…almost too good to be true. But true it is nonetheless and truth and feelings don’t always equate. As I processed with the Lord, I asked myself, “How would I live differently if I lived like this was true?” I realized then that there are times we need to walk out the truth first and let the feelings catch up later.
In order to live renewed, we have to stop identifying ourselves with old ways of thinking. We have to say goodbye to the old versions of ourselves. We must realize that there are parts of us that we need to hold a funeral for. Our sinful parts. Our broken parts. Our damaged parts. From the burial ground of our old selves, will spring new life. When we are willing to believe that we have died with Christ, the Holy Spirit will resurrect the broken pieces and cause us to walk in wholeness. We must believe this exchange has taken place even when we can’t feel it.
This doesn’t mean we won’t struggle. It doesn’t mean we won’t mess up. But what it does mean is we won’t choose to identify ourselves with our struggles and our mistakes. We won’t allow our struggles to define us. And we won’t allow the things we deal with and process through to put borders or parameters around what we believe we are capable of. We will choose to believe we are who God says we are, even while we are in process.
Shed the lies. Hold a funeral for the past you and step into the new. The only thing stopping you is a change of mind. Think new and live new.
