“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).

The thing is, if you are born again you are already transformed–on the inside. It just needs to show up on the outside. That Christians need to get this is what Paul is after.

I recall landing upon this verse years ago sitting on the deck of my in-law’s cottage. It was early morning and, with coffee in hand and an earnest desire to be different, I read this section of Scripture. A light went on and I realized then and there that key to transformation was learning to think differently. That was likely thirty-plus years ago and I’m still in process.

Paul is here not speaking of the new-birth experience, but of Christian living. The entire chapter of Romans 12 is devoted to how we as Christians are to conduct ourselves. We’re even instructed how it is we are to think: “think so as to have sound judgment.”

So much–if not all our outer behavior stems from what goes on in our heads. “As a man thinks in himself, so he is.” You are what you think. You’re not what you eat, you’re what you think. So it is that if we’re to live as God wants, and if we wish to be different, we’ve got to think different than we do.

Here’s the deal: if indeed we have become God’s by virtue of being born again; and if by this we are by nature then children of God; it stands that our outward behavior should reflect that. If we are completely new on the inside–which we are (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:17)–then our outward manner of life ought be completely new.

This takes an effort on our part; hence the admonition by Paul to be transformed. It’s more or less an imperative.

Conformity to the world is a natural thing. It happens almost by osmosis. We’re in the world, and we live and breathe and work in the world. Everything that is in the world, “the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life,” these are not of God but are constantly impinging upon us from all sides at all times. It is the world’s spirit, and it is always after you wanting you to conform to it. This is possibly the Christian’s greatest temptation because it is real, it is powerful, and it is continual. That’s why I said it takes effort.

If there is a battlefield, and if there is a war to be won, it is in the realm of the thinking.

Everything that God has to say about you as His son or daughter is absolutely true. Yet so many of us live sub-par lives–way below the standard of the abundant life Jesus speaks of in John 10. And it’s not God’s problem but ours. It’s as if He puts the challenge to us: “I’ve done everything I can do, the rest is up to you.” I mean if God did everything, what need would there be for the New Testament? For Jesus’ teaching? Paul’s? James’ or John’s or Peter’s?

A certain and real amount of change shows up in the newly born again child of God. He has forsaken his life of sin and dedicated his life to Christ. That alone is huge. Yet real transformation, total transformation comes by way of mind renewal. You learn–by practice–to think as does God; you begin to replace your old, natural and the world’s way of thinking, with God’s way of thinking. You think thoughts that are in harmony with God’s Word; the thoughts contrary you reject.

This is a lifelong and daily thing. It is a constant struggle. It is a fight you must fight, a battle you must engage. Otherwise, at best you’ll never experience all that God has for you; at worst you are doomed to the trash heap of shipwrecked Christians, those who never got off the ground as to their Christianity.

Total transformation is God’s perfect will for each of us who name the name of Jesus. It comes about in one way and one way only: a renewal of the way we think. It takes practice, it’s work, but it is worth it.