24 Aug We Must Carefully Cultivate What We Believe
Blog Series:
Renew Your Mind ~ Transform Your Life
We are looking at how we can become our own brain surgeon, choosing to change our brain to transform us into the best version of us.
Two weeks ago, we observed that – because our mind always changes in the direction of what we put into it – if we take care of our mind, our mind will take care of us!
Then, last week, we observed that because we become like what we put into our minds – and because we live in such a secular, media-dominated world – mental renewal is a do or die issue of the Christian life.
This week, we observe that, since our beliefs control everything about us, we must choose carefully what we believe. Last June and July, we looked at the fact that our beliefs are the driving force of our lives. We observed that we end up believing things that are wrong, false, and bad because we get our beliefs the same way we get the measles, from being around others who have them.
Then, we continue believing wrong things either because:
- We do not know the truth, or
- We know the truth, but we do not believe it, or
- We know the truth and believe it, but have not reinforced it sufficiently that it has changed us.
As a result, it is not uncommon even for Christians to be locked into self-destructive beliefs.
We know from neuroscience that our brain does not always believe what is true. Our brain tends to believe what it hears first (anchoring bias), or what it hears most often (illusion–of–truth affect).
We must be shrewd in our analysis of truth
Realizing this, we must become shrewd in our analysis of information and not merely believe what we hear first, or hear most often, but believe that which passes the test of reality.
We must not be passively naïve, but be actively cunning in sifting information for signs of reality.
This is a significant challenge because Satan, the god of this world, is the master deceiver, able to use the things of the world to appeal to our natural desires. 1 John 2:15–16 says, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”
By nature, combined with supernatural deceit, we inevitably get locked in to:
- A desire for physical pleasure (lust of the flesh)
- A desire for possessions (lust of the eyes)
- A desire for accomplishments and recognition (pride of life)
To break out of this bondage of bad belief, we must view things from an eternal, divine perspective, rather than from a temporal, human perspective. We must reinterpret our circumstances in light of God’s truth. Based on the truth, we must choose our attitude toward what is happening to us.
There are two vital areas in which it is necessary to choose one’s attitude. First is when we get something bad that we don’t want. Second is when we don’t get something good that we do want.
When we get something bad that we don’t want
Choosing our attitude is especially important when Christians face trials and suffering. If we choose a biblical attitude toward suffering, we can grow through the trials and not merely survive, but thrive.
For example, Corrie ten Boom, author of The Hiding Place, suffered terribly in a Nazi concentration camp for hiding Jews who were trying to flee Germany during World War II. Her father died in the camp. Her sister also later died in the camp after suffering terribly. Cory, herself, suffered terribly – but through it all, she did not lose heart. She focused, not on the things on earth, but on the things in heaven (Colossians 3:1-4).
She lived out the truth in 2 Corinthians 4:16 – 18, “Therefore, we do not lose heart. For though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are unseen are eternal.”
If she had focused on the things which are seen, she would have lost heart. But instead, she was renewed by focusing on the things which are not seen.
God will do remarkable things in our lives if we lean into the process and let him do his work during our trials and suffering.
- God will use it to transform us spiritually (James 1:2-4).
- God will use it to increase our impact in ministry to others (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).
- God will use it to increase our eternal reward (Romans 8:18).
- God will use it to deepen our relationship with Him (Philippians 3:10).
We must consciously, deliberately choose to accept an eternal perspective, even if our emotions fight us at the time.
When we don’t get something good that we do want
We must also choose our attitude when we don’t get something good that we want. The American dream is getting a nice education and a nice job, buying a nice house, driving a nice car, marrying a nice spouse, having nice children, having nice friends, taking nice vacations, having a nice impact on our world, living to a nice old age with a nice retirement account, and dying without pain with our nice family gathered around a nice bed.
Now, we may prefer a different variation of that, but that is essentially what the American dream is. And when God does not allow that to happen, we need to choose what our attitude will be.
And, for Christians who have the indwelling Holy Spirit and who also have the Bible, we have life-changing truth to fall back on when dealing with the disappointments of life. This is truth that can help us choose our attitudes when things are not going as we hoped.
- We have the assurance that God will cause all things to work together for good to those who love him and are called according to his purposes (Romans 8:20).
- We have the assurance that the sufferings of this present life will be disproportionately rewarded in heaven (Romans 8:18).
- We have the assurance that an all-powerful God who loves us will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).
- We have the assurance that in the end, all will be well (Revelation 21:4).
If anyone ought to have the capacity to live life as a healthy and well-adjusted person, it should be the Christian. Yet a typical American Christian in the United States often falls prey to the same emotional maladies as non-Christians largely because we do not know the truth, we do not believe the truth, or we know it and believe it, but have not reinforced the truth until it changes us.
Conclusion
The best news is that we can change our beliefs. 2 Peter 3:18 says, “but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” We don’t have to stay where we are. We can change. We can grow.
We have no beliefs that were not put there, either actively or passively. So, if we don’t like an area of our life, it is up to us to find and believe “true-truth”. Our life will change as fast as our true beliefs change to align with “true-truth”.
There are three steps to changing our beliefs:
- We must know the truth.
We must become serious students of Scripture and of truth so that we have the raw material we need to prosper spiritually. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). To the degree that we do not know the truth, we are vulnerable to ignorance and to deception. Truth isn’t everything, but everything rests on truth. We must be serious in the pursuit of truth.
- We must believe the truth.
We must choose to believe what God says, even if it is difficult to believe, even if it goes against our desires. We cannot break the laws of God. We can only break ourselves against them when we violate them. When we see something that is true, we must have the resolve, the hope, the courage to embrace it.
- We must reinforce the truth until it changes us.
We must adopt a system to take truth through our minds over and over again until we believe it. This involves Bible reading, Bible memorization, and Bible meditation, along with other things that we will look at in the weeks ahead.
I look forward to unpacking this dense truth with you as we move further into this series.
In case you’re new here
This blog post is part of a series titled “Renew Your Mind, Transform Your Life”, introduced on January 5, 2021. As the series continues, each succeeding post will be added to and available in the blog archives at www.maxanders.com.
If you know anyone who you think might enjoy joining us in this study, please forward this blog to them and encourage them to go to my web site (www.maxanders.com) and sign up for the free video, “Master the Bible So Well That the Bible Masters You”, available there on the home page. This will put them on my regular mailing list and they’ll receive my weekly blogs on this subject.
In addition, I am creating a new online membership site, The Change Zone, that will provide information, strategies and resources to help motivated Christians renew their mind and transform their lives. If you would like to learn more about this and get updates to know when The Change Zone will be available, click here.
I look forward to going through this life-changing journey with you.
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