“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind” Romans 12:2
After writing eleven chapters on heavy-duty theology, Paul transitions from belief to behavior. He urges us to turn our “theology” into what my Nana would call, “walkology”. Paul reminds us that we really haven’t learned the Word until we apply it. What we believe should make a difference in how we live in this world, “and do not be conformed to this world” and how we think “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (vs2) God want us to transform our thinking. The word transform in the Greek language is metamorphosis. We use it to describe what happens when a caterpillar becomes a butterfly.
Paul says our minds should be changed or renewed again and again by the Holy Spirit like a river cutting a path through a rock. We can do it. We can change our minds. Change begins in the brain with a thought. The brain is an incredible machine. It can learn seven facts per second for the rest of our life and still have room for more. Right now your brain is a symphony, performing over 400 billion actions, each one triggering a chemical reaction that if we could hear them would sound like an orchestra. We have about 100 trillion neurons in our brain that look like trees, each one capable of growing 70,000 branches called dendrites. When we have a thought it travels from tree to tree. Research shows that we can actually think ourselves into negative patterns. Mountain goats have a tendency to walk the same path over and over actually wearing down a path in the mountains. Negative thinkers can be just like a goat wearing down a path in the brain so that every thought automatically will race down a negative path. Dr Caroline Leaf says you can actually see this happen in images of the brain as thoughts travel from tree to tree good thoughts appear like beautiful green trees and negative thoughts look like ugly thorn trees.
Are you on the goat path today? Paul says change your mind, think on things that are true, honest, pure, lovely, and full of praise. (Phil 4:8)
Source
Who Switched Of My Brain? By Dr Caroline Leaf