How can I overcome resistance to change?

Since the divine instructions to us are that we be transformed by the renewing of our minds, we may well enquire how we may get our minds renewed. The answer is, by getting them formed according to God's thoughts and forsaking our own. And how shall this be? By soaking them in God's Word, which conveys to us God's thoughts. As we read and study the Word in prayerful dependence on the enlightening of the Spirit of God, our very thinking faculties, as well as our way of thinking, become renewed.

The renewed mind needs proper food and exercise. It will have an entirely new outlook, based not on the desires of the world around, but on the will of God. “Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Rom. 12:2) Nourishment comes by the careful study of the scriptures, which can fully equip the man of God for every good word and work (2 Tim. 3:17). In so far as we let our renewed mind be formed and strengthened by the irrigation of the Word and the sunshine of the love of God, the wiser shall we become in every way. We have referred to the mind acting like an editor of the impressions we receive and storing up only such as are worth recording for future use. How blessed to have as the guardian of the very gates of the mind, an editor who is informed with divine wisdom and who can, when necessary, act as a ruthless censor!

Verse 23. "And be renewed in the spirit of your mind." It is by his mind that a man is led; while his mind, in its turn, is governed by some ruling object. Self is that object to the natural mind to the renewed mind it is Christ. To live no longer to ourselves, but unto Him who died for us and rose again, is the desire of the inner man. But intuitive desire is aided in its struggle against the contradictory tendencies of the flesh by positive exhortation. The development of the mind of Christ within us is to be effected by obedient watchfulness on our parts. The meekness and gentleness of Christ are habits not to be acquired in a day, though the germ of every practical grace lies hidden in the life we have in Him. Mind and conscience are in a close moral connexion. By the renewal of the one, the other is maintained in purity. "Let every one be fully persuaded in his own mind" (Rom. 14:5) is a maxim of practical conduct, which cannot be too deeply impressed upon us all.

We put off the old man by profession when we turned to Christ for salvation; we were glad to renounce all that is "corrupt" and "deceitful," the two features used to describe the old man in verse 22. We then read that "righteousness and true holiness" characterize the new man. We have already seen that the old man is not Adam, neither is the new man Christ, but Adam fallen gives character to the old man and Christ in sinless perfection gives character to the new man. Hence in turning to Christ we turned from the one to the other. This we learn from such Scriptures as the one before us.

An important principle is stated in verse 23, "And be renewed in the spirit of your mind." If, as having put on the new man, we are to come out in the features of Christ, we shall have to guard our minds. What are the objects which engage us? the things which constantly come into our minds? Do we continue to think of the old path in which we walked before we believed the gospel? Do the interests of this world engage our thoughts, or do the interests of Christ engage them? These are questions which we need to put to ourselves for, as a man "thinketh in his heart, so is he," Proverbs 23:7. If we persist in thinking of these evil things they will mark us in our ways, as will good things, right things which are for the pleasure of God, if we set our minds on them. Let us guard our minds, let us "think on these things," those beautiful features listed by the Holy Spirit in Paul's letter to the Philippians, chapter 4:8.

Verse 2 gives us a definite application of this principle. For it is the natural deceit of our hearts to suppose ourselves obedient to God's claims, while not exercised concerning those things that are in reality contrary to Him. “This world” has its own standards, methods, and objectives. While unsaved, we doubtless partook of its character in these things. But the knowledge of Christ calls for a complete transformation. Shall we now think of conforming ourselves to a world guilty of the rejection of Christ? — a world lax in its standards, unholy in its methods, and selfish in its objectives? God is not in all its thought: the comfort and ease and indulgence of the flesh is its exclusive occupation. To be conformed to it is but weakly submitting to its fleeting vanities and folly. “But be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

Verse 1 has spoken of “your bodies”; verse 2, “your minds.” Let the mind be renewed by engaging itself with God's standards, ways, and objects: this is transformation. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Thoughts are clearly the spring of all conduct. While we were “of the world” our thoughts could only centre in the world: but now that we “are of God,” shall we turn our thoughts back to the world again?

But this transformation is real, and accomplishes results. When thus the mind is renewed, there is the vital, experimental proving “what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” It is not merely “knowing” His will, but “proving” it. Shall we not then challenge ourselves when sometimes anxious to know God's will in a certain matter?Let us go deeper, and inquire. Do we want to prove God's will in experience? Indeed, we may often be denied the absolute knowledge of His will in many cases; but at the same time be blessed in the experiencing of it. But this is only possible by means of a mind firmly set upon Him, accustomed to His presence and confident of His supreme wisdom and love. This is a complete contrast to occupation with the world.

Moreover the exhortation is to "be transformed by the renewing of your mind," for it is always the Divine way to work from the within to the without. Our bodies are controlled by our thinking faculties, and our very thinking faculties need to be renewed; a striking witness this of how deeply and fundamentally the fall has affected us, and of how impossible it is for us even to think aright except as the fruit of God's work. The reference here, however, is not to the new birth, for that has been accomplished in the case of every true child of God, and is consequently never a subject of exhortation, but to that progressive and daily renewing wrought by the Holy Spirit as our minds are enlightened by and brought into subjection to and into harmony with the Word of God.

Rom. 12:2. Nevertheless, he is not to be a Gentile either. If, on the one hand, he is to be outside the system of religious ceremonies, he is, on the other hand, to be also outside the world. "And be not conformed to this world, (or age), but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." Renewed in understanding, he has no more his relationship with the present age, but with the will of God. Under the law, one had, between ceremonies and the world, nothing but the flesh. It is remarkable that in exhorting to intelligent service, the apostle beseeches Christians to present their bodies as a sacrifice to God, and in warning against conformity to this world, he desires not a mere outward separation, but one that answers to the renewing of his mind, and this in order to discerning the will of God. It does not happen habitually that one knows His will all at once. We are exercised by God in order to know it; and in this exercise, formed by Him, we learn that His will is good, acceptable, and perfect. These two first verses furnish the general character of the Christian life, the principles of conduct that apply to every Christian, and to all his walk here below. They are summed up in devotedness and obedience.

20 It is then the will of God, and a precious will, that we should be able to discern it only according to our own spiritual state. In general, when we think that we are judging circumstances, it is God who is judging us - who is judging our state. Our business is to keep close to Him. God would not be good to us, if He permitted us to discover His will without that. It might be convenient just to have a director of consciences; and we should thus be spared the discovery and the chastisement of our moral condition. Thus, if you seek how you may discover the will of God without that, you are seeking evil; and it is what we see every day. One Christian is in doubt, in perplexity; another, more spiritual, sees as clear as the day, and he is surprised, sees no difficulty, and ends by understanding that it lies only in the other's state of soul. "He that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off."

The fear of change, which carries with it apprehension in regard to the future, is a great hindrance to a vast number of believers. We started our Christian career by facing the sin question, and finding a divinely-given solution of it in the gospel. This was followed by the uprising of the self question, and to this perhaps we have found an answer, so that we taste in some degree the sweets of victory over sin. There yet remains the circumstances question, and we most of us find it the most difficult problem of all.

Questions as to the future may trouble you and prevent you from labouring to be well-pleasing to your Lord, you may be afraid of the changes that such an aim and purpose might involve you in. You don't know what His will might mean for you, and you shrink from wholly yielding to it. Well, the beginning of the chapter describes the greatest of all changes in our lives.

“If our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” The greatest of all changes means the greatest of all blessings, and every other change in our lives which shall be according to God's will, will bring to us fresh blessing. We speak with absolute and unshakable confidence as to the final change; we cry with exultation, “We know,” and we may have the same assurance as to every other change, for it is written, “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.” You then, young Christian, may look back on the past and view it in true Christian peace. You may face the future and press on to it in this blessed Christian confidence, and free from all anxiety and fear labour to be well-pleasing to your Lord,