‘Be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.’ Colossians 3:10 NLT

Lasting change happens gradually on the inside, often before there’s any outward evidence of it.

Pastor Jim Penner says: ‘A friend of mine recently went through hip-replacement surgery…the joint had worn to the point where he walked with a limp and had to use a crutch. Thanks to the skill of a modern-day surgeon he was quickly up and around again. Yet for months after the surgery his limp remained…I ran into him this morning and the limp was gone. Where did it go? It had been there the day before. Had it vanished in the night? “You’re walking great,” I said. “What happened?” His response was priceless. “My physical therapist told me I had to retrain my brain.”

His brain had been trained to expect pain so he limped in anticipation. Even when he didn’t feel the pain his brain said, “Hang on. It’s coming!”

The Bible says in Christ you become “a new creature: old things are passed away…all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV). But you have to change your thinking by believing, accepting, and acting on it. Christ has already done the restoration “surgery”. Just like my friend was given a new hip, God has given you a new life.

The old one is gone along with all the bad things you’ve done, thought, or said. You’re a brand-new creation. But you have to retrain your brain to accept God’s forgiveness and the restorative work Jesus has done in your life.’ So: retrain your brain.

When we become a Christian, things in our lives change. We change some of our behaviour; we stop doing certain things and start doing others. We change the way we might speak, and most importantly, we begin to change the way we think.

Why is this the most important? If we don’t change our thinking, our actions and words will soon return to how they were before. When we retrain our brain, our actions and words will follow suit. Changing how we think doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a process.

The Bible says: ‘Be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.’ The more we learn about Jesus, the more we transform and change to be like Him. As we learn what God thinks about us, we begin to change our thoughts to think about ourselves like that too. As we learn what Jesus would do in a situation, we begin to think like Him too.

Romans 12:2 says: ‘Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will’ (NIV). So how do we renew our mind?

We need to immerse ourselves in God’s Word so that we know how He thinks about things. The Bible even tells us some things we should be focusing our thinking on: ‘

Think about the things that are good and worthy of praise.

Think about the things that are true and honorable and right and pure and beautiful and respected’ (Philippians 4:8-9 NCV). And we can always ask Him to help bring our thoughts into line with His.