Change Your Mind

Do you remember the red cars? If you were at North Point on Sunday, you spent a few seconds hunting for one color, and you probably couldn't have told anyone what else was on that screen. It was just a game, but it pointed at something true about all of us. Our minds quietly decide what we notice, and most of the time we never catch them doing it.

Now jump back about 2,000 years. A letter is being read out loud in somebody's living room in Rome. A small group of Jesus-followers sits and listens. The writer, a man named Paul, has just spent eleven chapters explaining everything God has done for them. Then he turns a corner with one small word: “Therefore.” Think of it as Paul saying, “So here's what all of that means for your Monday morning.”

What follows is Romans 12:1-2. Paul says that because of God's mercy, give God your whole everyday life. Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold. Instead, be changed from the inside out, and that change starts with how you think. These two verses show up on coffee mugs and wall art, which means it's easy to nod at them without really hearing them.

So slow down and notice the order. Paul doesn't open with “try harder.” He opens with mercy. Before he asks anything of these people, he reminds them they're already rescued and already loved. The ask comes second. That's very different from how most of us try to change. We start with pressure: fix yourself, and maybe then God will be happy with you. Paul flips it. God's kindness comes first, and change grows out of that.

Then notice what Paul doesn't say. He doesn't say your mind is a lost cause. He doesn't say, “You're just wired that way.” He says you can be transformed. If you've ever told yourself, “I'm just an anxious person,” or “I'll never trust anyone again,” that's a big deal. Paul is saying the pattern you're stuck in is not the final word on you.

This week, we're going to walk through these two verses the way you'd walk through a house you're thinking of buying. Open the closets. Check the foundation. Look at what's holding the whole thing up. Today, all you need to do is read the verses a couple of times and let one phrase catch your attention. You don't have to understand it yet. Just notice which part tugs at you, and ask yourself why.