Mind Matters

Every Tuesday, I treat my friends to a pizza. No catch. I did not spend for it. It was sponsored by Pizzarella Bistro. All we do is share our lives and talk about things that really matter to us. We call ourselves the Chooseday Group.

Every now and then, I also treat my friends to an aromatic and delicious brewed coffee. Again, no catch. All I have to do is bring them at Human Heart Nature, Iligan. They serve great coffee, for free. (I lead my friend to where there is free food and free coffee:-D)

And so I met a new friend from Chooseday. Charli from Zimbabwe. After a fw weeks, we were feeling chummy. She even ask if I could listen to the outline of the talk she would be giving in Cagayan de Oro. And here’s the meat of her talk…

Romans 12:2 (ESV)

2 Do not be conformed to this world,[a] but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

This verse simply means that if we want to be transformed, we need to renew our mind. We cannot think the same thoughts as before. What are the thoughts that we need no get rid of?

Even the world and everything in it is not enough to pay for your soul. “What would it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?” See, gaining the whole world is not enough.

You are not an accident. Long before the world was created, you were in the mind of God. You are here exactly at the right time, at the right place, in the right order of the family, with the right parents, etc. “I knew you before you were formed within your mother’s womb; before you were born I sanctified you and appointed you as my spokesman to the world.” (Jeremiah 1:5) TLB

I came across a Tedx talk of Joe Dispenza, a neuroscientist says that the neuron that fires together, wires together. In other words, if you have been thinking that you are not worthy and you are an accident for a long time, it means the neurons that think “that thoughts” have become pretty strong. That just blows my mind. I need to get out of that mindset if I want to make better decision because my decisions is often a result of how I view myself. But I cannot just “undo” all those wirings in my neurons. I have to think new thoughts. I have to think of truths.

So what Biblical truths should I put in my mind?

That there is someone who loves you, no matter what.
Even if you are not yet at the point where you accept yourself for who are, God does. You may not understand everything that is happening in your life or why He made you as you are, still He loves you. “We know how much God loves us because we have felt his love and because we believe him when he tells us that he loves us dearly. God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living with God and God is living in him.” 1 John 4:16 TLB

Can God love you less because of the sins you’ve committed before or in the future? No. “For I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels won’t, and all the powers of hell itself cannot keep God’s love away. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, 39 or where we are—high above the sky, or in the deepest ocean—nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when he died for us. (Romans 8:38)

A caveat. So are you free to choose to sin and God will still love you? Yes. To choose is a gift God cannot take away from us. We can choose anything we want but we are not free from facing its consequences. And living in sin deprives you of the fellowship with God. The fleeting pleasure of sins results in discouragement and despair, confusion, guilt and shame, compulsions and addictions, self-condemnation, and frustration. That’s not how it should be. We’re supposed to be growing in love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.,

That God has a great plan for you.
“For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

It’s your job to discover the great plan God has for you. If what your plans now is simply to get rich and be famous, then you’re missing God’s point. Fame and wealth are counterfeit to what God has in store for you. It’s not the end all of what really matters. Here is a guide of how you can discover God’s plan for you. Here is the acronym SHAPE as your guide.

S=Spiritual Gift. It is defined in 1 Corinthians 12:-11 (KJV)

8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;

9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;

10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:

11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

H=Heart. What you are really passionate about. What arouses your righteous anger and what moves you to tears? In my case, my heart goes out to babies who are fed formula. Not that I have anything against the mothers. But to be robbed of proper information and good support system, a baby is at risk of 21 diseases. That is just not fair.

A= Abilities. What can you easily do? My daughter often asks, “is she your friend?” when I end up talking to a stranger who happens to be pregnant or with a baby (I would find ways to get to the topic of breastfeeding). You see, I can befriend a stranger without any qualms. If they don’t like me, then I don’t take it against them.

P=Personality. Are you melancholic, phlegmatic, choleric, or sanguine? All have uniqueness and strength.

E=Experience. All those challenges you went through, they can be used to minister to people who are still going through the same challenge. Like me, I can easily empathize with people who come from a broken family, being a product of one myself.

By finding your SHAPE, you will begin to dream and desires What God wants of you. It’s important that you have this dream/vision. “Where there is no vision, the people perish…” Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)

When you think you are unworthy and you have no purpose, you won’t have the will to dream big. But if you know your worth and you have a higher purpose, and that this purpose are way bigger than you can imagine, you don’t get daunted with your current problems. Instead, your decisions right now is a result because of your dreams.

One of the minor dreams I have is to get back to my pre-pregnancy body. You see, I can fool the FB world by posing just the right angle in order to come off as skinny and sexy. But at the end of the day, I have to deal with ill-fitting jeans or shirts or dresses. Because looking great and feeling great is my dream, I don’t count it a deprivation when I got in a lifestyle that makes me burn stored fats.

So don’t be afraid to dream. And the question I leave you is this: If money and time is not a problem, who would you like to become? What things would you like to be doing for God? Answering those two questions is the first step of discovering you dream with the SHAPE you were initially created.

P.S. Thanks Ms. Susan Portado for texting me the meaning of the acronym of SHAPE

P.S.2 Thank Charli for providing me the photos and the idea about renewing the mind. I’ve been thinking these thoughts for a while now. Your ‘speech’ concretize my thoughts.