Several months into our first year of marriage we moved into the parsonage of our new church. It was a wonderful home, but after about 6 months I started noticing the ridiculous amounts of dust that acquired only moments after cleaning a room. My allergies responded to the rising colonies of dust that we constantly battled.
Then, an incredibly astute friend suggested we check our air filter.
Air filer? Um...yeah...good idea.
Where is it?
So, that was me...26 year old adult, yet where do I find my air filter? And how often should I change it? Wow...just wow.
Needless to say, that solved our war with the dust and my allergies were thankful.
Filters matter. They clean the air of pollutants and remove allergens (which make you miserable); they keep your system components working properly.
But what about our personal filter? You know, the thing that we use to synthesize information, experiences, and ideas...how do you filter out the mental and spiritual "pollutants"? What is the filter that you use to shape your worldview? Every person alive adheres to a particular worldview...whether we realize it or not. Webster defines it as "the overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world." And if we do not actively engage ourselves in the process of forming our own worldview, outside influences will.
Feelings. Experience. Culture. Friends. Family. Education. Movies. Books. All these fashion our worldview...unfortunately none of these are entirely trustworthy enough to allow their messages to run wild through our minds and hearts without check. That's why we need a filter.
Filters matter.
Romans 12:2 states, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." The more I study, learn, and grow as a Christian, the more I am convinced that transformation through the renewing of our mind is central to our spiritual growth.
How?
Choose your filter.
Dear friend, the big question each of us needs to answer is simple: Do I filter feelings, experience, culture...etc through God's Words? OR do I filter God's Word through my feelings, experience, culture...etc. The answer to this will lead you toward spiritual growth or towards spiritual confusion.
Look again at Romans 12:2 commanding us to "not be conformed." The Greek word for conformed is suschematizo meaning to conform one's self (one's mind and character) to another's pattern. This reminds me of my growing up years when I'd come home with less than desirable attitudes that resembled my friends...which inevitably ended with a few weeks of detoxing until "Katrina" returned. My attitude was literally conforming to that of the influences around me...in effect, changing my character.
When we further deconstruct suschematizo we find two root words: sun and schema. Schema is built through our experiences as we draw conclusions about the world around us. Schema is literally, the framework of our mind or the building blocks of our worldview. Sun is the preposition "with" denoting a union. So, conform is literally the union of our worldview with another...in this case the union of our worldview, our mind, and character with the worldview of this age.
Why does Paul even have to encourage us to "not be conformed"? Because conforming is a natural drift that will occur if we are not actively engaged in forming our own worldview. The filters of culture, experience, friends, etc. will win out. Instead, we are to be actively transformed by the renewing of our minds.
The Greek word for transform is metamorphoo meaning to change into another form...Much like a caterpillar enters the chrysalis and emerges a butterfly. When we cast aside the inferior filters and allow God to renew our minds, our lives respond with transformation. To renew is more than just making new; it's "to be changed into a new kind of life"...a change for the better.
Our natural, sinful state wants to gravitate toward conformity...but God wants to change us into another form...something different and better than the corrupt state He rescued us from. He wants to take our hearts and minds, where our understanding and reason lie, and not just reshape or reform us...but completely transform us. What an amazing God we serve! But remember dear friend, that happens when we renew our minds and see the world through His perspective.
How do we do that?
We start by choosing our filter. So I ask you friend, what is your filter? Is it God's Word or something else?
Then, an incredibly astute friend suggested we check our air filter.
Air filer? Um...yeah...good idea.
Where is it?
So, that was me...26 year old adult, yet where do I find my air filter? And how often should I change it? Wow...just wow.
Needless to say, that solved our war with the dust and my allergies were thankful.
Filters matter. They clean the air of pollutants and remove allergens (which make you miserable); they keep your system components working properly.
But what about our personal filter? You know, the thing that we use to synthesize information, experiences, and ideas...how do you filter out the mental and spiritual "pollutants"? What is the filter that you use to shape your worldview? Every person alive adheres to a particular worldview...whether we realize it or not. Webster defines it as "the overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world." And if we do not actively engage ourselves in the process of forming our own worldview, outside influences will.
Feelings. Experience. Culture. Friends. Family. Education. Movies. Books. All these fashion our worldview...unfortunately none of these are entirely trustworthy enough to allow their messages to run wild through our minds and hearts without check. That's why we need a filter.
Filters matter.
Romans 12:2 states, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." The more I study, learn, and grow as a Christian, the more I am convinced that transformation through the renewing of our mind is central to our spiritual growth.
How?
Choose your filter.
Dear friend, the big question each of us needs to answer is simple: Do I filter feelings, experience, culture...etc through God's Words? OR do I filter God's Word through my feelings, experience, culture...etc. The answer to this will lead you toward spiritual growth or towards spiritual confusion.
Look again at Romans 12:2 commanding us to "not be conformed." The Greek word for conformed is suschematizo meaning to conform one's self (one's mind and character) to another's pattern. This reminds me of my growing up years when I'd come home with less than desirable attitudes that resembled my friends...which inevitably ended with a few weeks of detoxing until "Katrina" returned. My attitude was literally conforming to that of the influences around me...in effect, changing my character.
When we further deconstruct suschematizo we find two root words: sun and schema. Schema is built through our experiences as we draw conclusions about the world around us. Schema is literally, the framework of our mind or the building blocks of our worldview. Sun is the preposition "with" denoting a union. So, conform is literally the union of our worldview with another...in this case the union of our worldview, our mind, and character with the worldview of this age.
Why does Paul even have to encourage us to "not be conformed"? Because conforming is a natural drift that will occur if we are not actively engaged in forming our own worldview. The filters of culture, experience, friends, etc. will win out. Instead, we are to be actively transformed by the renewing of our minds.
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| Photo credit: Debra Moses |
Our natural, sinful state wants to gravitate toward conformity...but God wants to change us into another form...something different and better than the corrupt state He rescued us from. He wants to take our hearts and minds, where our understanding and reason lie, and not just reshape or reform us...but completely transform us. What an amazing God we serve! But remember dear friend, that happens when we renew our minds and see the world through His perspective.
How do we do that?
We start by choosing our filter. So I ask you friend, what is your filter? Is it God's Word or something else?
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