...to be renewed in the spirit of your minds (Eph 4:23).
In "Young Frankenstein," the monster needs a new brain. Dr. Frankenstein gives Igor specific instructions. Steal the brain of the brilliant scientist Hans Delbrook. But there's a problem. Igor drops the jar containing Delbrooks' brain and grabs a substitute. Abby somebody. Abby Normal. Paul reminds his Ephesian friends that when God saves us, He gives us a new mind. A brain transplant. As Jesus' followers, you are "to be renewed in the spirit of your minds" (v23). He doesn't fix the one we have. It's broken by sin. We need a brand new mind.
A mind transplant.
Wait just a dad blamed minute! What in the name of Mel Brooks are you trying to say? Like Frankenstein’s monster, we desperately need a new brain. As a matter of fact, we're walking around with an Abby Normal mind before Jesus saves us. My sin has jacked it up. As long as I have a broken brain, nothing in my life will ever truly change. The best I can hope for is short-term behavior modification. I need a new mind but I can't give myself a brain transplant. I don't know much about brain surgery and I certainly didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. But I do know that trying to insert new grey matter into my skull on my own is a bad idea. A VERY bad idea. I need outside intervention. It just so happens that the One who made me is available and ready. The Great Physician not only has the surgical skills to perform the procedure, He has just the mind to insert.
Paul tells us that a critical part of God's work in our lives is the renewal of our minds. He uses the Greek verb ananeo'o here. It means to make new or different, make young, revive or completely change for the better. There's no use trying to repair my sinful, broken mind. My Abby Normal mind. I need a new one. God needs to completely change it for the better. The passive tense of the verb lets us know that I'm the patient, not the surgeon. This is Jesus' work in my life. I need outside help to have any chance of real internal change.
A mind transplant.
Paul knows that a renewed mind is the only hope you and I have in following Jesus. He knows that a renewed mind is central to God's work in our lives. The apostle wrote the folks in Colossae to "put on the new self, which is being renewed (Gr. ananeo'o) in knowledge after the image of its Creator" (Col 3:10). The divine mind transplant prevents falling back into the sin-filled and self-centered ways of society. "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind" (Rom 12:2). We need a new self. We need a new mind.
A mind transplant.
So is there anything we can do in this mind renewal process? I'm so very glad you asked. There's nothing quite like reading God's Word after the transplant. Discover who Jesus is. Discover what He's done. Discover what He will do. The Bible is the Big Story of God and His incredible mission of salvation and renewal. Jesus didn't just come back to save you and me and give us new minds. He's doing that with all of His creation. There's a new heaven, a new earth and a new Jerusalem on the way. We broke it all at the Fall. Kinda like Igor broke the jar with Delbrooks' brain. Only our first parents did it willfully. Intentionally. When they did, sin entire the universe and shattered God's creation. It needs to be saved and renewed. We need to be saved and renewed.
So when God renews our mind, when He gives us our needed brain transplant, who's brain do we get? Don't worry. Igor's not around to mess this up. "We have the mind of Christ" (1Cor 2:16). Not Hans Delbrook. Not Abby Normal. God gives us the very mind of His sinless Son. Because of what He does on the inside, things change on the outside.
We need a mind transplant.
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