Renew the Mind:Romans 12:1-3; Matthew 15:15-20

“For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, ‘Eat and drink!’ But his heart is not with you” (Proverbs 23:7, NASB)

Our thoughts control our actions. I have been hearing on the news that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused an increase in mental health issues for a significant number of people in our country. According to reported data, the effects can be seen in people from every social background. It can be seen in the school children. It is supposed by many experts, teachers, parents, law enforcement officers, religious leaders, community activists, and mental health professionals such as psychologist and psychiatrists. The stresses that people experienced during this crisis proved to be too overwhelming for many people to bear. For me, the question is this: Why do people experience the same stress factors and have vastly different responses to the stress? Since I am a 74 year old African American male I ask:” Why do the young men today seem to be more affected in negative ways than the men of my generation? In this article I want to explore the idea that the difference lies within what is in the mind before the crisis begins that significantly determines actions once the crisis begins.

So, I goggled, “What causes mental illness? According to the articles that I read there are three significant factors. The first one is that there are chemical imbalances that affect how the mind functions. The second factor is that various crisis cause stress that leads to mental problems. The third factor is that external stresses can trigger the chemical imbalances. I encourage the reader to examine my brief analysis more thoroughly for a better understanding. However, my main point in all of this is that our thoughts precede our actions. The truth of who we are is a matter of what is in our minds. I want us to consider the following scripture passages.

First, in Matthew 15 we have the story of the religious leaders challenging Jesus because his disciples were eating without washing their hands. Jesus answered them by saying that what went in the mouth does not defile a person as the Pharisees supposed. Rather, the false doctrines of the Pharisees were what defile a man. Jesus explained what he had said to the religious leaders to the people. “After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, ‘Hear and understand.’ ‘It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles a man, but what proceeds out of the mouth that defiles the man’” (Matthew 15:10-11, NASB).

Peter asked Jesus to explain what He had said. Jesus answered saying, “Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated” (15:17)? “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man” (v. 18). “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, slanders” (v. 19). “These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man” (v. 21). You may ask, “What is the point?” Let me explain.

We have seen that the same life experiences that people have do not lead to the same response. It is reported that there has been an increase in mass shootings among young men between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one. Why this age group? What percentage of young men in this age group that have reasons to kill people? More importantly, what is in the heart of a young man that has the need to murder large numbers of people? We can agree that it has to do with what is in the heart; what is on their mind. Do we honestly believe that guns cause a person to kill other people? Is it not true that there is a mental process that causes the desire to kill? Assault military style weapons are a method used by those that have killing in their hearts. Those that do not have it in their hearts to kill other people see the same weapons and the weapons are available to them also, but they may hardly notice them or give them a second thought. So, we must examine what are the factors that cause a person to have rage and murder in their hearts. We must identify factors that cause people to think the way that they do. Again, we must do something about how people think before we can change what they do and will not do. We now look at the words of Paul in Romans 3:1-3.

In the first eleven chapters of Romans Paul has been explaining how a person receives salvation. Since that have been saved their entire life is given to God for worship of the Lord and to be used in the service of the Lord. Paul is talking to Gentiles that do not have the law given by God to His chosen people the Israelites/Jews. They have been saved by the grace and mercies of God so that they do not need to conform to the law to be saved. However, now that they are saved they must live out the moral principles stated in the law. They cannot kill, steal, and commit adultery and other behaviors that the law forbids. They must present their bodies as a sacrifice to God. A sacrifice was presented as a living animal. It was slain and disposed of. In like manner, they were to present their old way of life to God so that God could dispose of their old life. In order for them to do this they would need to be transformed in their way of life. This could be accomplished only when they had a new mind; a new way of thinking.

They must put on the mind of Christ. Christ did not insist on His own rights and benefits. Rather, He relinquished His rights as God, and He willingly offered himself as a sacrifice for others. In Philippines 2:5-18 Paul explained what Christ had done so that they are now saved. They must look out for the welfare of others with the same attitude and mind that Christ had. The Philippians needed to change their minds.

So, what does this have to do with the mental health issues that are affecting the lives of an increasing number of people? The truth is this: We cannot see what is in the mind of another person. We see their behavior, but all things are not as they appear to be. Criminals have been persons with charming and pleasant personalities. Grumpy old men have been known to show kindness and compassion for those that they really do not like. It’s a matter of the heart. It’s what is in the mind. We cannot control another person’s mind, but as a society we can help determine what enters into the minds of people.

I believe that evil actions come from people that have evil in their hearts. So, if God is good, and everything that He does is for our good, His disciples that know His words and live by them daily are not likely to have evil thoughts in their hearts. In America we have discarded the words of God. People know the ways of the world and they think like the world. Do we not approve of movies and television programs that promote violence? Our children see us being selfish, greedy, and cruel. They see us use ungodly ways to solve our problems. They see us and they copy us. Although some of us may attend church services on a regular bases, our children see us living differently Monday through Saturday than we do on Sundays. They copy what they see Monday through Sunday, often in more extreme ways.

We need to renew our minds. We need to teach people the ways of the Lord. The proverb says teach us that there is a distinct difference between those that have the wisdom of the world as opposed to those that have the wisdom of God. “Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6, NASB). There is an increase in mental health issues because there is a decrease in training our children the ways of God. We need to renew our minds so that we have the mind of Christ.

The world has known violence and cruelty to other people since Cain murdered his brother Abel (See Genesis 4:8). Since that time people have lived according to God’s ways or they have lived according to the ways of the world ruled by Satan, the devil, the evil one. All of us were born sinners (Romans 3:23) and live according to the ways of the world. If we receive Jesus as our savior we are made right with God. We live according to His ways. A person cannot serve God and the devil at the same time. Let us renew our minds and live according to the mind of Christ.