Four Marks of a Renewed Mind

I want to show you today four marks of the renewed mind. As I go through these marks, you’d find it helpful to check on your own mind. Try to see how far your mind has been renewed, and are there areas perhaps where it still needs to be renewed.

First of all, the renewed mind is not self-centered, but God-centered. It’s not motivated any longer by those three verbs: I want, I think, I feel. Instead, it’s motivated by God’s values, God’s purposes, God’s objectives. These now become more important to us than our own. Its desire and purpose is to do only that which glorifies God. It does not ask, “Will this help me? What will I get out of this?” It asks, “Will God get glory out of this?”

The second mark of the renewed mind is that it is not proud or self-seeking. Paul said in that verse we’ve already quoted in Romans 12:3, that we are not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. I’d like to give you there some words of Jesus to his disciples in Matthew chapter 20, verses 25 through 28.

“But Jesus called them to Himself and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not so among you. But whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.’”

That’s another distinctive mark of the renewed mind. It’s not looking for opportunities to rule, but to serve. It’s not looking for opportunities to get, but to give. Today, in our modern culture, the idea of being a servant is pretty unpopular. Everybody wants to be his own boss. Everybody wants his own rights. Everybody wants to steer his own course and look after his own interests. But that’s not the renewed mind. The renewed mind doesn’t say, “What can I get?” It says, “What can I give?” It doesn’t seek to exalt itself, but to humble itself.

The third mark of the renewed mind is that it’s sober and realistic. Paul says again in Romans 12:3, we are to think so as to have sound judgment. Another translation uses the word sober. I like that word sober. The new mind, the renewed mind is sober and realistic. It avoids two extremes: on the one hand, fantasy and wishful thinking, and the other hand, self-depreciation and depression. Those of us who have or have had teenage children will quickly recognize that one of the problems of the teenage mind is that it easily indulges in fantasy, daydreaming, wishful thinking. But we have to recognize that nevertheless, it’s not a mark of maturity. On the other hand, another common feature of a teenage mind is that it tends to get easily depressed. And often a teenager will isolate himself or herself and shut himself or herself off, sit in a room alone. Again, these are not consistent with the renewed mind.

The fourth mark of the renewed mind is something that’s not always easy for us to understand. We go back again to the words of Paul in Romans chapter 12 verse 3. He says we are to think so as to have sound judgment, “as God hath allotted to each a measure of faith.” The renewed mind stays within the proportion or the measure of God-given faith. It doesn’t make unrealistic boasts and claims. It doesn’t claim to have a faith that isn’t real. But it’s a very common thing with religious people, people who fancy themselves to be spiritual, to try and believe for more than they really can believe. And it leads to many kinds of problems. Sometimes people who could legitimately have medical help go without it because they believe they have faith for healing, but they don’t get healed. See, faith is always humble. That’s something we need to remember. Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 4, the key verse on justification by faith, says this:

“Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith.”

Whichever version we follow, you see that the soul that exalts itself, that’s puffed up, that makes claims that are not justified, is not in faith. Faith is humble. Faith does not have a big I and a small God. Faith has a big God and a small I. And we have to move within the proportion of God-given faith.