The battle is in the mind

God calls us to be “be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2). The actions of life will flow from the transformation of the mind, and not the other way around. That this command is not just pious rhetoric or poetic sentiment but practically helpful was driven home to me by a friend of mine I’ll call “Muriel.”

Muriel has been in a difficult marriage. A man married her under false pretenses, deceiving her regarding some important matters in his past. When Muriel learned the truth she was devastated. For a few years after the marriage she struggled greatly, and it was hard to watch my friend in that state.

In the last few years I started to sense a change in their relationship—to something like happiness. One day Muriel shared with me a fact that may explain the gradual transformation I’ve witnessed. She told me that at some point after much prayer and reading and studying His Word, she started believing the Lord wanted her to sacrifice her life for this one man.

When Muriel looked at her situation in this new light, her life began to change. She had a new perspective to live out of. She was specially chosen for this man! She and no one else. She was chosen to be “a living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1). What a calling! From what a Master! A good Master who never supplies a mandate without the wherewithal to carry it out. From now on, what was formerly experienced as a negative would be experienced as a positive. Rather than seeing herself as a victim, she could now see herself as someone entrusted by God with an important ministry. “Greater love has no one than this” (John 15:13).

All of the commands of God are ways of drawing us deeper into His abundant life. This is not what we expect, but it is what those who try it discover. They are good for us in the everyday dimension of reality where we live and move. So when the Bible says the battle is in the mind, we must believe it. To get the mind of Christ on the particulars of our life is to get the breakthrough we need to face life’s problems with real joy.