Actions start with the mind

  If you have never read through the book of Romans before give it a try and see how you feel on the other side of the 16 chapters.  Without getting too much into the content of the book, because that is a task that I am unable to tackle nor is that the intent behind this blog, I will mention just a few things to help situate ourselves within the historical context. Romans was written by the Apostle Paul approximately AD 55-57, most likely while he was in the city of Corinth.  Simply put, this is a letter written to the Christian ekklesia in Rome covering a multitude of different topics but focusing on God’s righteousness revealed in Jesus for the salvation of humankind.

 The first chapter in Romans is a doozy, along with the remaining 15.  Paul sets up the rest of the letter with the statement that the Gospel is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith,” and that in this Gospel “the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith.”  He then goes on to tell of the dire state of humankind on account of their unrighteousness.  It is almost painful to read, what can happen to us if we disregard our Maker.  

 Although it is less subtle, what really struck me in this discourse is the pattern that Paul lays out that all peoples throughout the history of the world have played out.  Paul begins this pattern by declaring that God’s glory is plainly observable, all around us, woven into all of creation, even the intrinsic knowledge of His “eternal power and divine nature” is in us as human beings made in His image.  Isaiah 6:3 says “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.”  God has placed within us, through making us in His image, an intuition to behold and admire His glory in creation, and to respond in worship.

Following this, Paul goes on to describe how humankind failed to honor God.  We see this all over the Old Testament, and we see it all around us today, perhaps even in ourselves.  We were made for and with a particular purpose in mind, we are creatures of worship.  No, I don’t mean that all we were created to do was sit in a church pew and pour our hearts out to God on a Sunday morning, although that probably wouldn’t be a bad idea, but in what we do, how we carry ourselves in the world, how we love our neighbors, how we manage our money, and everything in between.  When we refuse to do that which we were created to do a multitude of things begin to happen, but among them, as we shall see in the next part of this pattern, is our thoughts become “futile,” and our hearts are darkened. Paul says that people’s thoughts became futile, empty, leading to nowhere, void of life, and their hearts are darkened.  What goes on in our thoughts and in our hearts in response to the glory of creation, the glory, and beauty that surrounds us everyday matters, how we respond and act in the world in light of the world matters.  Misplaced worship, attention, and service is what led to the downfall of many civilizations, and many individuals.  I will return to this point momentarily as this is what I want to highlight. 

So far in the pattern, there is failure to honor God, the futility of thoughts and darkened hearts, which led to exchanging the glory of God for man-made images.  I cannot emphasize this enough, we were made for something specific, something specifically glorious, and when we fall short of that, the downward spiral commences.  We cannot think that just because we did not grow up in a culture that worships idols we are not tempted to create and worship them. The idols of this world come in many shapes, sizes, and colors, it is just that some cultures have more obvious ones than others.  We were made in the image of God to commune with Him and become like Him not to worship images that try to replace Him.  

 Lastly in this pattern, is what people are led to do on account of their failure to honor God, their thoughts becoming futile, and exchanging God’s glory for idol worship.  Without listing the many things that people get themselves into, Paul mentions a few to show just how far away we can get from our intended purpose.  

 Paul is not under the impression that our thoughts are somehow neutral, that they don’t do anything to us or for us and it is actually our actions that really count.  N.T. Wright said, “Evil is what you get when the mind is twisted out of shape and the body goes along for the ride.”  If our thoughts are darkened, our actions will follow, if we fail to honor God in our minds, our actions will fail to honor God. Thinking that our thoughts don’t really have any hold on us or how we are to be in the world is a dangerous mistake to make, they have a much stronger hold on us than we can imagine. 

 One of the things I try to pray every day is that God will help me to think good thoughts so that I act accordingly.  Words would not suffice to describe the degree to which I have been changed as a person on account of how my thought life has been changed by the world-altering truths I have gleaned from the Christian worldview.  Our thoughts are not neutral, they are doing something to us and we are doing something in the world. We are a part of the world, we have an effect on the world.  The people who were given over to their evil and lustful desires were deceived by their futile thoughts first, were damaged psychologically for their refusal to honor that which is highest, that which is their truest purpose in this beautiful world, and this is to glorify, honor, and enjoy God.  

 I write this as a reminder to pay attention to what enters our minds and what we meditate upon because it will have a direct effect on how we act in the world.  Paul said we should take every thought captive and that we are literally transformed by the renewing of our minds.  If our minds are renewed, if our thoughts are pure, right, purposeful, and aligned with God, then what we get is transformation, practical tangible transformation.