June 3: Being Transformed

Work was stressful today, and the old way of thinking came back fast.

Paul writes: don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Notice the grammar. Be transformed. It’s passive. Something done to you. You don’t transform yourself. You’re transformed.

But it isn’t completely passive either. Paul says it happens by the renewing of your mind. Your thinking changes, and that changes you. God does the transforming, and you cooperate by letting your mind be renewed.

That’s a good picture of Step Six. God removes defects. You become willing. And part of that willingness is noticing old thinking and letting God replace it.

Work stress is a good place to see this in action. A deadline hits. Your boss is unfair. A coworker takes credit. And the old patterns rise up immediately. Anger. Self-pity. Fear. Maybe the thought: I deserve a drink after this.

That’s the world’s pattern pressing in. Squeezing you back into the old shape.

Renewing your mind starts with noticing. Oh, there’s self-pity again. There’s that fear. There’s the old thought that alcohol fixes stress. You don’t have to act on it. You just notice it and bring it to God.

Then you choose a different thought. This is hard, but God is with me. I can call someone after work. I don’t have to fix this today. A drink would make this worse, not better.

Over time, with prayer and practice and God’s work, those new thoughts start to come more naturally. That’s transformation. Slow, and real.

The more you notice your defects showing up in daily life, the more ready you become to let God take them.

Be patient with how slow this feels. A mind isn’t renewed in a weekend. But every time you notice and turn, the new path gets a little more worn, and the old one a little more overgrown.

One thing today

Tonight, write down one moment today when old thinking showed up. Name the defect behind it. Then write the new thought you’d like to have instead.

A prayer

Lord, I don’t want to be squeezed into the old shape anymore. Transform me by renewing my mind. When the old thoughts come back, help me notice them and turn to You. Amen.

On becoming ready: Step Six.

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