But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:20-24)

Renewed In The Spirit Of Your Mind

The human body is an amazing machine of daily renewal. Unaware to most people, human skin goes through a renewal process on a 14-day cycle. Skin cell turnover is a repetitive process helping the body maintain a healthy layer of protection. This design was not by accident but purposed by God when He created the human body. Life comes from renewal. God created the body requiring fuel to help this renewal process. Without nourishment such as food and water, the body will die.

A Christian is a person of daily renewal and change. Like the human body, the spiritual man is evolving and changing. God designed the spiritual man to need nourishment and renewal which without either will bring death. Jesus described the new birth as the beginning of the spiritual man. Immersion in water is the moment a person becomes a child of God as a babe. Babies need lots of nourishment to grow. Spiritual babies need lots of spiritual food to grow in Christ and, like the human body, will never stop needing to feed the body to grow. Daily renewal is very important to the growth of the child of God.

When a man obeys the gospel of Christ, he learns he is lost and realizes that without the blood of Jesus, there is no hope. To be a child of God, a man must first learn Christ. This comes from hearing the words of Jesus Christ and accepting the teaching of the Lord. Truth resides in Jesus Christ. This truth is the manna from heaven and without this manna, man will die. When a man learns Christ, he discovers things he must put away in his life. Coming to Jesus is on the terms of the Divine, not the whims of man. The former conduct is corrupt and must be put away. Deceitful lusts are not part of a healthy diet for the growing child of God. Renewal begins by learning Christ and, through that knowledge, what must be put away that is deceitful.

The growing Christian has a renewing mind. Nothing is more important than the spirit of the new man to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord. As a baby develops, the mind is examined to make certain the child is growing cognitively. If a child exhibits signs of slow learning or the inability to learn, alarms are raised and concerns raised. When a man reaches twenty years of age and still has a child’s mind, there are concerns. In the spiritual man, the mind must be renewed, or there is danger. The renewal of the mind comes from putting off the former conduct that hinders the growth of the child of God. Righteousness and holiness are the manna of God’s word to help the child of God grow in grace.

Renewing the mind is a daily exercise. It begins with putting away all those things that hinder growth and filling the mind with a healthy diet of the fruit of the Spirit. To learn Christ is to learn how to change the spirit from a worldly and carnal mind to a spirit-filled heart seeking the will of God in every part of life. This is a process of renewing, reminding, rekindling, and restoring the heart of man to God. Resolutions should not be made at the beginning of the year but the beginning of the day. Renew the spirit of your mind.