Change your life by Changing your mind

Have you ever heard something that so resonated with you, you just had to share? That’s what happened to me! I want to chat about Changing your life by Changing your mind.

This post is inspired by another brilliant woman I heard speak this past weekend, Bex Rowlands. I love how God brings things in front of me for my use at just the right time. You see, I planned this blog post months ago with just a title and God brought MORE than enough meat.

Let’s get started. . .

Romans 12:1-2 says, And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

If we break down these two verses, we see some clear direction from Paul. We are to work with our bodies as worship to God, we are to not conform to this world’s behavior, we are to allow God to transform the way we think.

Work as Worship

As believers in Jesus we are to bring heaven to earth no matter where we are or in whatever role we serve. This applies to women in the marketplace to women full-time in the home. There are so many ways to ‘present our bodies as a living sacrifice’ through our work.

It is seen in our attitudes toward work. Are you working without complaining? It is seen in our execution of work. Are you working with excellence? And, it is seen in our relationships at work. Are you praying for those in your workplace and deepening friendships with unbelievers?

Our work is a direct reflection of God’s goodness in our lives. We can use it to fuel us to do more things that He finds ‘acceptable’. Worship means you are doing EVERYTHING for God and as a reflection of God. Our work is an expression of our love for Him. Use your body, through your work, to serve others and glorify Him.

Conforming Behavior

Paul reminds us not to conform to this world. What does that mean? Think about how you look to the world. Are your attitudes and actions indistinguishable from everyone around you? Are you like the frog who has been sitting in the hot water so long you don’t realize you have been cooked?

There are two ways to conform to the world. The first is by being an active participant in your pursuit of the world. You have bought into the power of ‘self’ and rely on making you better by getting in touch with the inner you. You follow the next shiny object or idea hoping it will give you the answers to becoming a success.

Or, you conform by passively adopting the world’s behavior. You do things that help you blend into your surroundings. You allow things to enter your life by lowering your guard and thinking, “It’s not that bad”. You don’t want to offend so you say nothing. It is a slow and subtle wearing away of your beliefs until there is nothing to differentiate you from a non-believer.

By copying the behaviors of everyone else, you are not the solution but just another problem. God has given us the answers to living life abundantly and we erode that when we allow the ideas of the world to dissuade us from doing what we know is right.

Transforming Mind

God promises He will change our perspectives and make us to be more like Him. I love that God sent Jesus to earth to be the flesh and bones of our faith. He is our example of what a transformed life looks like. Jesus was compassionate, loving, and mindful of those who came into His path. He stopped to meet their needs.

By spending time with God, you align with His thoughts and they become your thoughts. You become more like Jesus. Every situation you find yourself in is designed to move you from where you are toward where God wants you to be. You can decide how to use those circumstances to grow your faith and allow God to change you from the inside out.

That’s really what it is all about, doing the internal work so the external reflects the you God intended you to be. Just like you need a mirror in order to change your appearance, God’s Word is the mirror to change your behavior. Peer into it every day.

God’s Will for You

Change your life by changing your mind. Ask God to help you do the inside work, so the outside reflects His character. It is not a dose of godliness that rushes in and takes over you. It is an intentional work of the Spirit through your daily actions and choices.

Decide to show up in all your activities with integrity. Be the person others aspire to be because you have the focus God desires so you to make the impact in the people around you.

• Integrity means you don’t over-commit and then have to disappoint someone.
• Integrity means you work in your strengths and understand your weaknesses to bring your best self to your work.
• Integrity means you build a reputation that reflects your values, so others echo those qualities about you.

When God is working in you, His character qualities will emerge. You will ‘learn to know God’s will for you’ because you are in alignment with Him. Your internal settings are reset, your ideas and thoughts are aligned, and you show the world the transformed you. That is the change God wants to see because it ‘is good and pleasing and perfect’.

Be filled to overflowing,

Deneen