r12-Think Different

Romans 12:2 (NLT)

² Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

(click on the pic to hear it too)

From The Message:

Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Back in the late 90’s , Steve Jobs (Apple Computers Founder), challenged his employees to think different.

• If his employees said it was impossible – he said make it possible
• If his board members said it was impossible – he said I can make it possible.

They ended up doing what was deemed impossible – possible.

Back in 1994 he did an interview with PBS and was asked about his success.

This is what he said,

When you grow up you tend to get told the world is the way it is and your life is just to your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family, have fun, save a little money.

That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact, and that is – everything around you that you call life, was made up by people who were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it,  you can build your own things that other people can use.

The minute you understand that  you can poke life and actually something will, you know if you push in, something will pop out on the other side, that you can change it, mold it. That’s maybe the most important thing. It’s to shake off the erroneous notion that life is there and you’re just gonna live it, verses embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it.

I think that’s very important and however you learn that, once you learn it, you’ll want to change life and make it better, cause it’s kind of messed up, in a lot of ways. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.

What I hear Mr. Jobs saying is “don’t allow the things of this world to form you into it’s image.”  Be transformed by changing the way you think! We need to shake off the erroneous notion that life is not there just to live it  – embrace it, change it, improve it, and make your mark on it.

Jobs idea of changing the world  was creating gadgets that we didn’t know we needed.

Jesus idea of changing the world begins with you and me – by changing the way we think.

Steve Jobs is right when he says, ‘everything around you that you call life was made up by people no smarter than you.’ Everything you see around you, all the customs and behavior of this world are made up by people and they are designed to drag you down to its level of immaturity.

As a follower of Christ, We are not called to reflect the immaturity of the world. We are called to spiritually grow up and not give into the patterns for this world.

I read this true story this past week that reflected maturity.

Last week after continued reports of character issues such as bullying, academic trouble and rudeness toward their teachers, a high school coach in Utah suspended his 80-player team to help them begin thinking differently.

He got tired of the immaturity that his team was displaying off the field. He collected equipment from the players and explained that the team would not be permitted to play until they “proved themselves as human beings.”

“We felt like everything was going in a direction that we didn’t want our young men going,” said Labrum, an alumnus of the program he’s coached for the past two years. “We felt like we needed to make a stand.” 

The “suspension” only lasted one day; the team performed community service this past weekend instead of practicing for their upcoming game against another local high school. 

“We looked at it as a chance to say, ‘Hey, we need to focus on some other things that are more important than winning a football game,” Labrum said. “We got an emotional response from the boys. I think it really meant something to them, which was nice to see that it does mean something. There was none of them that fought us on it.”

Do you think his team began thinking differently? At least for a football season it did and maybe the rest of their life.

Jesus, too, is challenging us to think differently.

We are not here on this earth to become successful, financially secure, comfortable, self-centered, have a nice family, have fun, and save a little money.  This is a limited life.

All of these things reflect the patterns of this world. There is nothing wrong with any of those things. But if that is all you are living for, you are just reflecting the patterns of this world.

Throughout Biblical history (OT/NT) God has been changing the way people think.

God changed Abraham’s way of thinking. His dad, Terah, made and sold idols to worship for a living. Abraham worshipped only one God. God changed the way he thought.

God changed Moses way of thinking. Moses outburst of anger and bitterness lead to him to killing an Egyptian. Moses came back to Egypt and peacefully lead 2 million plus people out of Egypt. God changed the way he thought.

Jonah ran away from God. Got swallowed up by a big fish. Jonah had some time to think inside the fish. He was spit out and  he preached to the city of Nineveh – a nation was saved. God changed the way he thought.

Gideon a farmer became Gideon the army leader. God changed the way he thought

Mary, the virgin, became Mary the mother of the Son of God. God changed the way he thought.

Disciples who were fisherman became fishers of men. God changed the way they thought.

Disciples who were tax collectors began collecting people. God changed the way they thought

Nicodemus was a Pharisee. Nicodemus became a follower. God changed the way he thought.

Paul who persecuted the church became a pastor of many churches. God changed the way he thought.

Peter who denied Jesus 3 times declared Jesus to the world. God changed the way he thought.

And the list goes on. Zacheus, the woman at the well, the woman caught in adultery, the Roman centurion. You and I.

In order to live a transformed life – one must willingly surrender their thinking process to God. This is where the real battle is. We give Jesus our hearts but not many people give them their mind.

I met a young man at McD’s this past week. He struck up a conversation with me. I asked him if he was a believer. He said yes. He went on to say that he had done some really bad things growing up but he believed now that he has done more good things than bad and he was good enough now to get into heaven and that God wasn’t mad at Him anymore.

God had his heart – he was a really great guy.  But God didn’t have his mind.

Not only are we to give him our heart, soul, and strength – we are to give Him our mind. God wants us to stop and think and listen! God wants us to use the brain he has given us.

He wants to renew our mind but we must willingly surrender our mind to God.

How do you willingly surrender your mind to God?

1. This comes through the disciplines of the faith like fasting, reading, studying and meditating on his Word. When you do those things it allows the Holy Spirit to work in you.

2. Do what Philippians 4:8 tells us to do:

Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

3. Do what 2 Corinthians 4:18  tells us to do “don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

Our culture will drag you down. We get mesmerized by it. We get caught up in it. We get influenced by it. We need to shake this erroneous notion that “life is there” and you’re just gonna live it. In other words we must not allow the culture to dictate life to us.

God is calling us to embrace our culture , change our culture, improve our culture, and make your mark on it. We can’t avoid our culture.  The disciples didn’t avoid their culture. They embraced their culture and took the message and the hope of Christ into it.

This is how you transform a culture.

By introducing others to the one who has transformed your life  and taking it (your life)  into a culture that is immature and longing for something much greater.

The transformation starts with you renewing your mind by surrendering your thinking process to God.

Think different! click on the pic to watch the bird-cage video. Pretty powerful!!