HAT CAN I do after so many years of doing, watching, and thinking the wrong things?" Haunted by sinful memories, Mike sought help in his daily Christian life.

At Creation, God gave us the incredible gift of our minds. Because of our minds we can be creative. We can choose. We can learn. And we can know God. We were created for relationship with God. The first information to register on the human mind was the burgeoning relationship with God. Opening his eyes for the first time, Adam saw the face of his Creator lifting from the intimacy of the kiss of life.

Our minds control our lives. In our minds we develop habits, and there the relationship with God takes place. God asks us to love Him with our minds (Matt. 22:37). He calls to transformed minds (Rom. 12:1, 2). We can have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16) and be transformed into His glory
(2 Cor. 3:18). Our attitudes are influenced by our relationship with God (Phil. 2:5; Eph. 4:23). God promises to put His law in our minds (Jer. 31:33). He invites us to pray with our minds (1 Cor. 14:15).

We are in a battle for our minds, and part of that battle takes place in the mind (Rom. 8:5-8). Sin created in us a natural bent to evil. The influences of a sinful world further damage our minds. Repeated actions develop actual physiological structures-pathways in the mind. These neurological pathways-habits and memories-control much of our lives. We can see the power of sin in the combination of our sinful natures and habit pathways. Even if we could develop completely new habits, we cannot free ourselves from sin's power. We are naturally slaves to sin (Rom. 6:16).

Though our natures will not be completely transformed until the Second Coming (1 Cor. 15:51-54), Jesus solved our problem. When we accept Him as Savior, He frees us from the controlling power of sin (Rom. 6:1-7, 11-14; 8). We can choose a new Master. Christ provides us a new life and transforming power, but He does not force them on us. We must choose this new life and cooperate with Him in the renewal of our minds. Then a new character becomes a present reality.

Mike and I explored some steps we can take to cooperate with God and enjoy a new life:

1. Prayerfully face your sinful reality. We naturally resist admitting our sinfulness. We want to think we're not as bad as others. Yet the Holy Spirit convicts us that we are all equally sinful. As we compare ourselves with Jesus, we discover a different perspective; we see ourselves as Paul saw himself-as chief of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). Until we accept our pervading sinfulness, we will not desire a transformed heart and renewed life. Mike faced the discouragement of his sin every day. He needed to accept who he was in Christ.

2. Gratefully accept your reality in Christ. As Christians we confess our sin and accept Jesus as our personal Savior (Rom. 5:6-8; Eph. 2:4-9). We enter into the reality of eternal life (1 John 5:11-13). Yet because of our sinful natures and the ongoing battle with sin (Rom. 7:18, 19), it's easy to give up. Using our will, we can accept the reality of who we are in God. We are forgiven (1 John 1:9). We are created anew (2 Cor. 5:17). We have all the power we need to live with God (Phil. 4:13; 2 Peter 1:3, 4). We are seated with God on His throne (Rev. 3:21; Eph. 2:6). We begin life each day in this new reality. As he studied this new reality, Mike began to catch a transforming vision of who he is in Christ.

3. Focus your mind on Christ and the things above. God doesn't coerce our hearts or minds. He frees us to choose that on which we feed and focus. God invites us to fix our eyes upon Him and true and heavenly things (Col. 3:1, 2; Heb. 12:1-3). Then the peace of God will guard our minds (Phil. 4:4-9). As we look to Him, new pathways and memories begin to develop in our minds. "When we know God as it is our privilege to know Him, our life will be a life of continual obedience" (The Desire of Ages, p. 668). Ellen White is saying that through an appreciation of Christ's character and through communion with God, sin will become hateful to us.

4. Be willing to live with the mystery of God. We can know enough about God to walk with Him, but we will never be able to understand Him completely. How can our finite minds understand a Creator who has existed through all eternity, who speaks and causes worlds to appear? Who can comprehend a God who became human (John 1:14) and died on a cross? Mike discovered that some of the theological debates he had enjoyed so much were overanalyzing and dissecting God. He began to accept Him without having to answer every question.

5. Practice devotional skills. Spiritual disciplines are discipleship tools for nurturing intimacy with God. As we seek to know and walk with God, our minds become the setting for companionship with our Creator and Redeemer-our human minds touch the mind of God. Through such skills as relational Bible reading, prayer, meditation, memorization, and journaling, Mike began to immerse himself in Scripture and saturate his mind with God and His reality. New structures began to build in his brain-new pathways became stronger than the old, sinful habits. These physiological structures even began to help him resist old habit patterns.

6. Practice the presence of God. Jesus promised to be with us (Matt. 28:18-20). Paul declares that through the Holy Spirit Christ fills our hearts (Eph. 3:15-19). By faith we can accept His presence. We can focus our minds on this reality throughout the day, and slowly we will develop an awareness of His presence. As we become accustomed to and focused on His presence, we will find our lives transformed. As Mike became more aware that Jesus was with him, he chose more and more to resist anything that would interfere with the harmony between his heart and God's.

7. Actively resist sin. Though our natures are still sinful and we struggle, Christ has freed us from the controlling power of sin (Rom. 6). The enemy still seeks to destroy us (1 Peter 5:8). In Christ's strength, however, we can resist; and the power that conquered on Calvary will gain the victory again. As we submit to God, we have power to resist (James 4:7, 8).

Mike began to understand the sequence. We submit to God. We resist the devil. We come close to God. By faith we claim His presence, and in His power we resist the temptation. But we must do it at the level of our desires-our minds (James 1:14, 15). Jesus teaches us that sin really takes place in the mind (Matt. 5:21, 22, 27, 28), and there the battle is won or lost. Resisting sin, accepting His victory as ours, we move forward in faith, claiming His power and His new life.

One day every sinful habit will be gone-our sinful natures transformed. But while we wait for Jesus to come we may grow in Him. We can experience His transforming grace renewing our minds. We can participate in His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). We can look to Him and be transformed into His likeness (2 Cor. 3:18).

_________________________
Ben Maxson is director of stewardship for the world Seventh-day Adventist church.