Renewing the Mind: The Biblical Imperative of Transformation

What if true transformation isn't about erasing sin but about renewing our minds daily? Join me, Jason Hopkins, as we tackle this challenging yet profoundly enriching concept of biblical transformation. Through scriptural insights and personal anecdotes, we'll explore the ongoing battle between our renewed spiritual selves and our old fleshly desires. Learn how filling our lives with godly content is vital for supporting our journey to becoming new creations in Christ.

Have you ever wondered how suffering can lead to spiritual growth? In this episode, we'll discuss the transformative power of suffering by examining the five R's of biblical transformation: Replacement, Repentance, Restoration, Renewal, and Reconciliation. By unpacking key scriptures and diving into the concept of neuroplasticity, we'll reveal how God replaces our hearts of stone with hearts of flesh, guiding us toward continuous renewal. Discover the importance of healthy relationships in God's plan for our healing and redemption, and see how God uses others to restore and heal deep-seated wounds.

Are you struggling with addiction or trauma and seeking a path to freedom and intimacy with God? This episode will take you on a journey of restoration through an identity transformation in Christ. We'll highlight the significance of baptism as a physical representation of our spiritual rebirth and share personal stories of overcoming life's deepest pains. Plus, you'll gain practical tools for renewing your mind and confronting generational curses, setting the foundation for a life filled with hope and healthy relationships. Don't forget to download and share this episode to help spread our message of hope and redemption to others in need.

Chapters

• 0:00 The Path to Biblical Transformation
• 9:44 The Process of Biblical Transformation
• 21:34 The Journey to Biblical Reconciliation
• 32:44 Supporting Hope Through Podcast Growth

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the Hopeful Perspective podcast. I am your host, jason Hopkins. To this point on the show, we have examined my personal story of suffering and healing pain and purpose, as well as we have discussed the biblical perspective on suffering and forgiveness. We have learned how my life illustrates God's glory through my own experiences moving from survivor to thriver and victim to victor. Through my own experiences moving from survivor to thriver and victim to victor. Though my past was full of pain and suffering, I have been restored with purpose and sanctification. I have been redeemed. I have also been called to follow Christ in my redemption. We have further examined two imperatives that Jesus gave all of his disciples to pick up our cross and sacrifice our self-interests, as well as to forgive others as we ourselves are forgiven. Today we are going to discuss the biblical imperative to be transformed by the renewing of our minds what biblical restoration actually looks like. So I encourage you to grab your favorite snack, hot or cold beverage, get comfortable and come on this journey with me today as we explore the power and the freedom found in transformation into a new child of God. Before we jump into today's topic, I want to discuss some exciting news regarding the podcast. I have been invited by a good friend to collaborate with him on the podcast he hosts and to share my story for God's glory. If you've been following from the beginning of our short history, you know that the mission and vision of the podcast is to share the hopeful perspective with as many people as possible, to extend our reach and to influence others as we grow. I have stated that, whether we reach five people or five million people, that the Lord will be glorified through this podcast, so I am excited to be invited by my friend so early in the process. Stay tuned for the dates and the location of this upcoming collaboration. For the dates and the location of this upcoming collaboration.

Speaker 1: 2:07

Last week, we looked at the command to forgive, as Christ forgave us when we have undergone pain and brokenness. The path to His glory isn't an easy one, yet it is worth it. Forgiving others for the way we have been wounded and perpetrated is one of the severe challenges this side of heaven. This week, though, I want to connect this concept of the command to forgive others as we are forgiven to the opportunity of experiencing biblical redemption, and I want to do so by opening us up with the question are we conditionally promised fulfillment by simply forgiving others. I want you to consider this question as you think of the times in your life you have been wounded. Was it enough to simply forgive your perpetrator, or did you have lingering effects from the pain that had been caused? How do you move through the pain of the past as you walk in faith? How do you walk in faith by forgiving others or being forgiven for an atrocity you have committed, yet you still carry the pain? How do we reconcile our faith with forgiveness and restoration and with true transformation?

Speaker 1: 3:24

Some people may just refer to a biblical verse, over-spiritualizing the point through their misapplication of his word. Take this one from Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 5.17, says Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come, the old has gone and the new is here. This verse can be misapplied to suggest that once a person has found Christ, he or she will sin no more. I have literally heard this theology preached from verses such as this. Such faulty teaching denies the humanity we have and the faulty belief system that Bible believing Christian followers must reconcile and work through, belief system that Bible-believing Christian followers must reconcile and work through. In fact, paul is addressing the transformed perspective he has within his faith journey. He now views every person as an eternal being, not merely just an earthly or fleshly one. This is a result of accepting Christ's eternal and divine being. Anyone who is in Christ becomes like Christ. That person is indeed a new creation. Yet we are still human beings that with an authentic eternal being as well as our mortal flesh, that they can be at war with one another.

Speaker 1: 4:40

Paul says in Ephesians 6.12 that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness, even in high places. This is the battle that our selfish spirit wages against the renewing of the mind and the new creation of actually becoming like Christ, of actually becoming like Christ as a new person. We are to be filling our life up with the things of the Spirit versus the things of the world. John tells us in 1 John 2.16 that for everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life comes not from the Father but from the world, where I used to love the beats and the rhythms and even the lyrics to justify my favorite secular artists, many who are communicating the lies of the enemy, you know, like glorifying the flesh, living a hedonistic, sex, money-grabbing, self-gratifying lifestyle, and I would eventually found that replacing them with music that is truly worshiping God edified my soul, this new person I was becoming and building my spirit up to be, whereas I was using the influence of mass media, hollywood and other significant influences to speak the similar lies as before mentioned to me, where I was filled with lies and even death. I now know to turn to the mediums that the Lord has given to us that speak life. I have to choose to fill my entertainment with content that either aligns with moral, biblical and godly messaging and lives in alignment to his words that fill me up. You see, my tastes, my preferences and my desires begin to change as a new creation. Yet how do we reconcile this fact that we are a new creation once we submit ourselves to the Lord, yet we still do battle with the beliefs, the attitudes and the behaviors of our old flesh? This is a common question for anyone who has come into Christ.

Speaker 1: 6:51

I have counseled several addicts in my time who came to Christ, yet they had to battle the underlying belief systems that led the addicted person to the true freedom found in their newfound relationship. The truth is, most everyone is addicted to something. Another word for addiction is idolatry. We are filling ourselves up and coping with something that is not of the Lord and is often destructive to us physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and then relationally. Think of how the following additions or coping mechanisms or idols, if you will qualify in affecting those five holistic areas of our life. Think about how drinking, drugging, binge eating, lying, manipulating, food, addiction, overworking, sex, pornography, masturbation and lust, cheating on our spouse emotionally and or physically, denial, anxiety, rage, physically or emotionally, passive-aggressive gambling, over-spiritualizing, you know, like a Pharisee, shopping, escaping, and the list is exhaustive. You can see that often the addictions and symptoms are sometimes difficult to distinguish in amongst themselves between our addictions, our relapses, our sins, our idols. Relapses, our sins, our idols. Our choosing anything over our creator as a new creation in Christ is an idol.

Speaker 1: 8:31

I have met so many Christians who live in this duplicity or another word, hypocrisy and are battling these symptoms or challenges in the flesh and are white-knuckling, trying to barely hold on. They are trying to outrun their pain, thus creating stress, and this stress triggers the emotions that drive our addictive behavior. The problem with this is we have God-given, healthy emotions. You know our new self. But even the painful ones that warn us are there to show us that something is wrong.

Speaker 1: 9:03

Constantly anesthetizing these emotions by overriding them with addiction leads to obvious destruction. This is not what you were created for, what you were deemed for, nor is it how we let our lives shine. We were created for authentic relationships with God and others, and when we are steeped in our flesh, our addiction with God and others, and when we are steeped in our flesh, our addiction and our coping mechanisms we are anesthetizing our conscience that the Holy Spirit uses to inform us when we are on the bad path. We are essentially silencing that voice of God within our lives. We were created to look to God for guidance and not rely on the destructive things of this world.

Speaker 1: 9:44

Yet I believe another point for us to consider is equally significant, and it is found within this continual discussion we have regarding suffering and salvation, right here on the podcast. Once we understand the purpose of suffering, we begin to see how we are being transformed through the fires of these addictions and temptations, these trials and these tribulations, and this is often the only battle plan to wage the war of our flesh. Peter said in this way in his first letter, chapter 5, verse 10, and the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you've suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. Do you remember that one? But how is it that we are made strong, firm and steadfast? If you will humor me in my use of alliteration, then we will see five R's that help us understand this process of true biblical transformation. More there have been similar descriptions used by many, true biblical transformation. More there have been similar descriptions used by many, but I have found this one to be helpful for my process.

Speaker 1: 10:53

The first R is replacement. Jesus said in the Old Testament to us I will give you a new heart and I will put a new spirit in you. I will remove from your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh Ezekiel 36, 26. God is the one who graciously replaces our hearts of stone with hearts of flesh. That is how we can come to know him, because he first loved us and he gives us this new heart and we thank him for his grace. Jesus replaced when he came to earth. He replaced the old laws of sacrifice known in the Old Testament, with his becoming the sacrifice, once and for all, for eternal salvation to all of those who would come to love him. Who would come to love him. Therefore, what we once put worship to is now replaced and our second R now becomes significant.

Speaker 1: 11:51

First is replacement, the second is repentance. We are literally now with a new heart. We're going to turn 180 degrees from our old self and our old life and now to God for our new life. We do this by making a change of mind, a change of heart and action, by turning away from sin and self and returning to God. He's given us this new flesh, this new heart, but we have to change the beliefs of the old mind and the flesh. Repent then, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, that times refreshing may come on you from the Lord. That's in Acts 3.19. We are to repent, and then our third R comes into play, the R of restoration.

Speaker 1: 12:42

Though sacrificing our self-will, self-centeredness and submitting to God's will, our minds need to be continuously restored or renewed. Either R really works in this place, doesn't it? Romans 12 says this. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by what? The renewing of your mind. Then you'll be able to test and improve what God's will is his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Speaker 1: 13:26

Neuroscience today has come a long way in the past 40 years, and we've discovered more about our brains within this time frame than any other period of our life. Humans have the ability to actually rewire their brains by forming new neural pathways. This is a process called neuroplasticity. The brain usually will do this on its own in response to, say, injury or disease, but people can also slowly rewire their pathways by focusing their attention. That's a medical definition. This sounds kind of familiar from Romans, chapter 12, doesn't it? We can literally teach the limbic system, that is, that survival brain, that we no longer live in fear or survival, but we now live in faith and sacrifice. But how do we do this? We face our current fears and even our pain that wants to lie to us about yesterday, with our new belief system and new action step that is different than we ever have taken before.

Speaker 1: 14:32

And don't be surprised that, though, our relationships are marred when we are living in sin, that God used relationships in the beginning and he will with you today within your healing process. You see we were created by him to have healthy, close and intimate relationships and yet these stand to be the most valuable things we lose within our sin, that the enemy wants to do nothing but steal, kill and destroy from. Yet God will still use the power of healthy relationships in correlation with those who are living relapsed, isolated and idolatrous lives. I want you to think about a couple examples, if you will. If you were wounded by a mother or your father, do not be surprised when God will send healthy mother or father figures into your life in your future to change your heart. I think of the many foster mothers and then my own mother-in-law, who I love so much, who has helped redeem these mother wounds.

Speaker 1: 15:42

If you've been affected by racism or hatred, or you or yourselves battle with those two things, don't be surprised when God sends you one from the offending party for you to forgive and change your heart, or he sends somebody that you have disdain for to come into your life. I think of a couple friends of mine, a former skinhead who was himself guilty of racism. And then I think of another friend, this black man, who faced blatant hatred and racism in his early childhood and now the two of them, in their adult lives, were used in each other to heal the deep-seated wounds that each bore New results over time and, as a result, god's forgiveness and individual restoration occurred in their lives, and today they are close friends. See, godly, redemption makes the supernatural appear completely natural. One of the beliefs I have acquired and grown in is that God's word and God's world do not contradict one another. This idea of our brain being capable of renewal and rewired was indicated, as we saw in his word, millenniums before, and now we have the ability to understand what we deal with today. But check these out.

Speaker 1: 17:13

Colossians 3, verses 1 through 10, says since then you have been raised with Christ. Set your hearts and that's another way the Bible says your minds on the things above, where Christ is seated now at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things, for you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. This is what the word is saying. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways in the life you once lived, but now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these. Look at the list. Continue here anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in the knowledge and the image of its creator. There is so much in that verse that we could unpack, and I would encourage you to read it over and over again as we discuss these concepts. Do you hear what tense that Paul is speaking in, though? I want to draw attention to this recurring point. Did Paul say and you have put on the new self, which was renewed? Go back and read it. See, I don't read that either. We have put on the new self, which is being renewed. Once again, we see that our restoration is not just one of an immediacy, but of an ongoing process.

Speaker 1: 19:07

I have had to practice and discipline myself in the matters of my faith by changing these beliefs that were underlying, which drove my emotions in turns, driving that old, selfish and idolatrous behavior. With the level of pain and trauma I have experienced in my life, I've been told that I would be fully justified if I was drowning my sorrows with sex, drugs, serial relationships, booze or whatever I could to stop the pain, the depression, the anxiety, the nightmares, the post-traumatic stress disorder, and I've spent long seasons utilizing some of these to do just that. Yet I was left feeling emptier, further isolated and in deeper sorrow than I even began in. That is until I faithfully committed to addressing these sorrows and facing the underlying pain when I started facing my walk with integrity. I was tired of trying by myself to change these behaviors. I resented, and this would happen regardless of the sacrifice and the suffering that I would face going forward. It would happen with Jesus and his Holy Spirit, with God as my new father showing the same power that he resurrected his godly son in from death, and he's now doing that to resurrect me. So this leads us to the next R, that is, that resurrection power through Christ's death, and this is in Romans 6, 1-4,.

Speaker 1: 20:50

Through Jesus' death and resurrection, we are promised restoration from death to life. Paul asks us this relevant question. What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means. We are those who have died to sin, so how can we live in it any longer? We are those who have died to sin, so how can we live in it any longer? And verse 3 says or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized also into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life Again. That's Romans, chapter 6. We too may live a new life Again. That's Romans, chapter 6.

Speaker 1: 21:34

I love the discipline of baptism that all of us are called to undertake in the command when we are given as his followers once we have repented from our ways and turned our life over to him. This decision to be physically baptized plays out a physical representation of what Paul described in the spiritual realm within Romans, chapter 6. Grace was given to us as a free gift, yet not as a license nor justification to continue in sin. You see, we were buried with Christ and then raised again with him. We were created for intimacy with God and others, and that's part of what we were resurrected toward. And this brings us now to the final R in our restoration paradigm, that of reunion or, you could say, reconciliation, and I will be going into this in a little more depth in our next episode. But for today's sake, I want us to see how this plays into this restoration process. I want us to see how this plays into this restoration process being justified by Jesus' sacrifice for us.

Speaker 1: 22:37

Did you know that we are now reunited with God the Creator, as His now redeemed creation? See, just like Adam and Eve used to walk with God in the cool of the day and literally talk with Him, once they were separated, he had to now find a new way and a new sacrifice to reunite us to our creator. It says this in Romans, chapter 5,. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him? For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life? Not only is this so, but we also boast in God, through our Lord, jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation, this reunion. So, while we were out there, living as sinners in a world cursed, as we were dying in our sin, we were then found worthy by him, we became justified by the sacrifice that he wanted to make for us, and we were justified by that grace. And again, like Romans 6 already indicated, this is not a license, nor is anything that we can boast in ourselves. It's not our work, but how much more fulfilled are we now that we are alive in him and we can now boast in the one who brings us this restoration and this healing.

Speaker 1: 24:06

This paradox is a profound one that shapes our hope as the new redeemed. You see, when we rediscover our new identity in Christ and we live in that new identity in that place of restoration, we are drawn intimately to God and we cannot help but to have those close, intimate relationships with other people that are actually required and desired within the healing process. When we confront our fears and our pain with faith and generational curses are broken and we are unified with the Holy Spirit to form thriving family legacies, hope happens. See, my alcoholic, drug-addicted parents did not necessarily determine my identity. They serve neither as my excuse to do the same things nor as my primary influence. God, the Father, parented me and parents me now in my new identity. He moved me from being an eventual orphan to a child of his. I am his son, he is my father, and we can have a good, close and healthy relationship. You see, we have to always remember, with a sober mind, that the difference of moving from victim to victor, as we constantly say, or victim to perpetrator is separated by a thin line, a decision on the part of the victim.

Speaker 1: 25:45

That's what Paul was saying in 2 Corinthians 5, 17, in terms of his perspective of every person being an eternal being. You know that verse we read at the beginning that could actually be misinterpreted. He says that we have the opportunity, as eternal beings, to become like Christ. Remember, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come and the old has gone. The new now is here.

Speaker 1: 26:12

I know for me, on my journey in faith as a young believer and one who had encountered continuing hardships well into my faith, that this process, demonstrated through the five R's we just talked about, has been evident all throughout as a person who has relied fully on myself being a rage depression, sex relationship addict, as well as demonstrated by the multiple personalities developed for my protection. And remember each of those personalities with their own trauma and, believe it or not, their own individual addiction sometimes, or their own affection, you can now imagine how I would have found it extremely difficult to fully submit to God's plan and protection for some time. This process of submission was a painful one. I can't lie, as I literally had to put to death the false belief systems and the lies the enemy had projected over me from a very young age, well into my adulthood, that I couldn't trust anyone in authority for they're going to be out to hurt me as a victim of sexual abuse and rape, even bearing the physical scars of genital mutilation. Today, I lived in a full-fledged battle of sexual and porn addiction throughout my young faith, further steeping my shame and secrecy.

Speaker 1: 27:45

The truths found in scripture declaring these acts to be the old self fell on deaf ears for many years while I was stuck in my addiction fell on deaf ears for many years while I was stuck in my addiction. It wasn't until I was able to renew the mind and literally deal with my affected neural pathways that were created through addiction that I began finding freedom and liberty from the heavy chains that had been holding me down. The healing processes, the therapy, the tools. For example, there's one called the Genesis Process, another one called Five to Thrive, and another one from a book called Living from the Heart. Jesus Gave you tools that helped me through my disorders and addictions. They were used in my restoration, and we will discuss some of these at greater length in future podcasts.

Speaker 1: 28:30

I would love for you to not just walk away with information, but also biblical tools for your redemption, for it is my desire to have anyone listening today that currently walk in bondage to find the freedom that I now have, that I now have to find that hope. Yet, for some of us today, I realize that our bondage is due, in part, to the fact that we have been relying to live our own lives on our own terms Instead, and all of our best attempts to change our lives have fallen short. And all of our best attempts to change our lives have fallen short, and that is whether you are a believer or you don't know what you think yet about God. You are listening today, though, and you are feeling this prompting to consider life on his terms. If that is you today, or you are someone who is ready to recommit yourself to the Lord.

Speaker 1: 29:33

I want to pray this prayer with you, lord Jesus. I repent of my sins, of my own self-will, and I surrender my life to you. Wash me clean. I believe that you are the Son of God, that you died on the cross for the forgiveness of my sins and you rose again on the third day for my victory. I believe that in my heart, and I make confession right now with my mouth, that you, jesus, are my Lord and my Savior. I want to live my life according to your terms and I pray for you to change me, my heart, my mind, my beliefs, from the inside out. And it is in your name today, jesus of Nazareth, that I pray Amen, amen.

Speaker 1: 30:23

If you have today agreed with this prayer from the depths of your heart, if you have today agreed with this prayer from the depths of your heart, I welcome you to the eternal family of God. I encourage you to find an orthodox, biblical-based faith family who worships the Lord passionately. Also, devote yourself to the reading of his scriptures. As you can tell, there is so much to gain from living this new life, and his guidance is found in his love letters, the Bible to us. Finally, today I want to encourage you that if you are dealing with addiction still, or mental health issues such as anxiety, depression and anger, and you're living in shame, I want to encourage you to seriously consider the fact that by choosing life with the Lord means you don't have to do it alone anymore. As a matter of fact, you won't heal alone. Consider seeking out a Christian therapist who can utilize both tools from scripture as well as integrate healthy tools from the medical space to assist you in becoming that all God wants you to be. He is a God of hope, my friends, and he desires us to display that hope as we find it and we believe it deep in our souls and our heart and we live it.

Speaker 1: 31:45

Next time on the Hopeful Perspective podcast, we will examine that fifth R, or the hope found in biblical reconciliation. What does it mean to be biblically reconciled and how does our pursuit in the ministry of reconciliation show the world Christ? Are all relationships that have at one time been broken intended to be reconciled? If there are situations that this is a no-to, how do we build healthy boundaries in these relationships? What are the practical steps of healthy reconciliation. These are a few of the questions and principles that I will hope to address next time on the Hopeful Perspective podcast.

Speaker 1: 32:29

Until then, I want to thank you for joining me today along this journey and if you'd be so kind to follow, subscribe and, most importantly, to download this episode, even if it takes up space.

Speaker 1: 32:44

Download it and delete it, because this is the way that we help the algorithm and to help others who may need this hopeful perspective in their lives.

Speaker 1: 32:56

And now you can contribute monetarily by pressing our Support the Show link that is embedded on your platform in your episode descriptions. Realize that all of your contributions are being utilized to grow the podcast, to broaden our reach and to share the hope of Christ. You may have heard that our next practical steps would be to purchase the second mic or headphones and even whatever necessary equipment we can so that we can have interviews with others live here on the podcast who have experienced hope amidst their trials. Others live here on the podcast who have experienced hope amidst their trials. I want to shout out my gratitude to the multiple new donors who already have made this commitment to support us financially. Without you, it would not be possible to reach as many lives with the message of hope that we have, and I would love to reach as many that are still walking in difficulty and darkness, like I have, or anyone who needs to be reminded that hope is real. So thank you so much in advance for these considerations and until next time, remember you are loved.