Renovate Your Mind and Transform Your Life

Peter Parker was an ordinary teenager. If you saw him, you would probably describe him as an average teenager.

 If you got to know him, you might describe him as smart, nerdy, and interested in science. He was a normal teenager when he went on a field trip to a laboratory. Unbeknownst to him, a radioactive spider had escaped its cage and crawled on him. Peter cried out in pain and knocked the bug away. Aside from the stinging of the bite, Peter did not think anything had changed. He thought he was still an ordinary teenager. Yet, when he was bitten by the radioactive spider, he received superhuman abilities that set him on the path to becoming Spiderman. He did not know it yet, but he was no longer a mere mortal.

Bruce Banner was a brilliant, mild-mannered scientist. During the experimental testing of a gamma bomb, Bruce was exposed to dangerously high levels of gamma radiation. The exposure changed everything. He was no longer a mere mortal; he was The Hulk.

 Reed Richards created a spaceship that was able to travel into deep space. He, his girlfriend Susan Storm, his girlfriend’s brother Johnny Storm, and his best friend Ben Grimm set out on their exploration of space. While in space, the four encountered a cosmic storm that released powerful levels of radiation. When they returned to earth, they realized they were different. Their molecules had been altered. They were no longer mere mortals, and they would become known as The Fantastic Four.

Barry Allen was working late one night in a police laboratory. While working, Barry was struck by lightning, which caused nearby chemicals to spill and cover him. Barry Allen was no longer a mere mortal; he was now the world’s fastest man, The Flash.

Peter, Bruce, Reed, Susan, Johnny, Ben, and Barry were all mere mortals until an incident changed their lives forever. This incident, whether caused by chemicals, lightning, or radiation, altered their beings and gave them superhuman abilities. Similarly, every believer has had an incident that has altered their being and granted them superhuman abilities. We call that incident being born again.

Peter the apostle described it this way: “Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever” (1 Peter 1:23). The phrase born again or begotten us again (see 1 Pet. 1:3) means “to be born anew, to produce again, and to be regenerated.” When a living organism regenerates, it regrows new tissue to replace lost or injured tissues. When people are born again, their spirits are regenerated.

 The incorruptible seed of the word of God is the source tissue for the regeneration of the believer. Every believer is born again of the incorruptible seed of the word of God, which means no believers are born again out of a lesser material. The spiritual DNA of every believer comes from the word of God. When a believer is born again, the believer is regrown into a new creation that has never been seen before. Once born again, a person is no longer a mere mortal.

 Jesus explained this to the Pharisee Nicodemus:

 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again’” (John 3:3–7).

When speaking to Nicodemus, Jesus used born again to mean “born from above, born from a higher place, born over again.” The second birth Jesus referred to is spiritual. This birth is produced by the Spirit of God and is of heavenly origin.

 Every Christmas, believers all around the world celebrate that Jesus came from heaven and was born of a virgin. To say that Jesus is not of this world or from this world is not a shocking statement to any believer. He’s from heaven, and so are you. When you were born again, born from above, you were given a new origin story. Many people are familiar with Superman’s origin story—that he came from the planet Krypton. Heaven is now part of every believer’s origin story. No matter where the person was when they accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, they were born from heaven above.

The apostle John said it this way: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7). When John talked about the new birth, he called it being “born of God.” The DNA of the incorruptible seed of the word of God in your spirit came straight from God Himself. You have been born again; you are no longer a mere mortal. One of the worst things you can do after you are born again is to consider yourself “only human” and just a mere mortal. You are not just human. You are not a mere mortal. The new birth granted you a new spiritual DNA, a new origin story, and a brand-new identity as a new creation in Christ Jesus.

Similarly, Paul said, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). When Paul spoke of the new birth, he referred to believers as new creatures or new creations. A new creature is a brand-new being that has never been seen before. This new creature has a different nature than the creature it replaced. The new creature has abilities that the old creature did not possess. The new creature has an identity that the old creature could not fathom. The new creature has rights that the old creature could not claim. The new creature has power with God and power over the enemy. The new creature has a vastly different reality than the old creature.

Many believers never experience the superhuman life because they fail to grasp new creation realities. Instead of clinging to the new, they embrace the old. If people desire to understand who they are as new creatures in Christ Jesus, they must renovate their minds to the truth of what God’s word says about them. As Paul said, in Romans 12:2:

 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 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 (NLT).

 If people are born again, yet never change the way they think, they will still act like they are not born again. When the Scripture says that all things have become new, it is referring to the spirit of the person. The spirit has been regenerated, the mind has not. In order to experience new creation realities, the spirit must be regenerated and the mind must be renovated. When you renovate a room, you take out the old and replace it with the new. When you renovate your mind, you take out the old way of thinking and replace it with a new way of thinking. This new way of thinking should be rooted in the word of God.

The renovation of the mind leads to the transformation of the life. The superhuman effects of regeneration in the life of a believer is limited by the extent to which the mind has been renovated. It is simple: If you do not renew your mind, you will not enjoy the superhuman life that God has for you. The word for transform in Romans 12:2 illustrates a beautiful and powerful example. Transform means “to change into another form and to transfigure.” In Romans 12:2, it says we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. The fact that the word is renewing instead of renewed tells us that this is a continual process, not a one-time event. The renewing of the mind is a process that begins at salvation and continues throughout the Christian life.

Many believers are saved, but they do not live like it because of their thinking. As I mentioned before, when we are born again, our spirits are saved. Even though are spirits are saved, we will live like we are not saved if we do not renew our minds to the truth of God’s word. Many Christians have renewed their minds concerning right and wrong, holiness and wickedness, the fruit of the Spirit and the works of the flesh. All of those things are vital, and believers must continually renew their minds on those subjects; however, those are not the only topics on which believers must renew their minds. If believers do not renew their minds concerning their identity as new creations in Christ Jesus, they will not experience the superhuman life that Jesus made available for them.

Romans 12:2 tells us that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. Our spirits are regenerated and transformed when we are born again. Our lives are transformed through the renewing of our minds. The Greek word for transformed in Romans 12:2 is very interesting, since it is only used three other times in the New Testament. Two of those three times refer to what many believers call The Transfiguration:

 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves, and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light (Matthew 17:1–2). Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them (Mark 9:2–3).

Imagine how extreme Jesus’ transformation must have seemed to Peter, James, and John. They were walking together, and Jesus looked the same way He did the entire three years they had known Him. The four were conversing as they traveled up the mountain. Jesus began to pray, and the three disciples watched. The gospels note on different occasions how the disciples would watch Jesus pray and learn from His example. During this time of prayer, the three apostles observed something vastly different. As Jesus prayed, His face began to shine like the sun. His clothes suddenly changed and became as white as the light. The power that radiated from Jesus was so strong that it knocked the three disciples from their feet and caused them to lose consciousness.

Everything about this time with Jesus seemed ordinary to them until Jesus was transformed in front of them and, as the Amplified Bible Classic Edition says, “He was transfigured before them and became resplendent with divine brightness.” Jesus’ transfiguration on the mount was a transformation. What a transformation! The transformation of a person into a new creation is just as awe-inspiring. What God does in believers the moment they are born again is even more amazing than the transfiguration of Jesus upon the mountain. Jesus was transfigured to reveal who He really was; we are transformed to reveal who He has re-created us to be.

The third place the Greek word for transformed is used is in 2 Corinthians 3:18, which says:

 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Just as in Romans 12, this verse speaks of the transformation of the life of the believer. The latter part of this verse in the New Living Translation says, “And the Lord— who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.” Our lives are transformed into the superhuman life as we renew our minds with the new creation realities found in the word of God. The sad truth is that believers will never realize what God has accomplished in them until they renovate their minds to new creation realities.