Renewal of the Mind

.... When we become a new creation in Jesus we receive a total change, for the Scriptures have said that "all things have become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17). Yet new things are still being written in our hearts as well, as we learn more about Jesus and mature in Him (Ephesians 4:22-24). This means that in a strictly practical sense we are facing a learning curve that could leave us with some blank spots along the way. So let’s use an analogy to explain how God handles this:

.... A father and his son were brought to the hospital as victims of a minor accident. As they were being treated, the emergency room clerk filled out their admissions information on her computer:
.... She began by calling up a field of demographic questions to her screen. She skipped from field to field as she filled in the information for the father. This took several minutes, and when she was finished she pressed the ENTER key on her keyboard.
.... The screen froze briefly as the information was filed, then it blinked and reappeared as before. All of the information was still in place as she had typed it. But no, that really wasn’t the case after all. It only looked the same.
.... In reality, the screen was now showing a new demographic record that was completely empty. Each of its fields were actually blank. Yet they retained an image from the previous screen, which is called a ‘background record’. In principle, this is similar to pressing a blank sheet of paper over another sheet with writing on it, and seeing the writing on the sheet beneath. The new sheet is actually clean but a separate image lies beneath it that we may still read from, or may trace to the new sheet if desired.
.... The computer program was arranged this way for a similar reason. As another member of the same family was admitted, the process went quickly since a good deal of the information remained the same. It was simply a matter of duplicating the desirable information from the background record into the new, by using the ‘auxiliary dupe’ key.
.... Now the clerk sped along in admitting the son, pressing the ‘dupe’ key when appropriate, and changing the information when that was appropriate:

Last name: (dupe) First name: (change) street address: (dupe) city: (dupe) state: (dupe) zip code: (dupe) birth date: (change) guarantor information: (dupe)

.... . . . and so the process sped on, as old information was drawn from the previous screen when appropriate, and new information was typed over the old when that was appropriate. And in this way a different person was eventually described: related to the first, and in some ways similar; but also unique.

.... This analogy helps us to understand what happens when we become a new creation in Christ. In every way we truly are new, just as the new computer screen was actually blank. Yet a lifeless image of our past remains in the background, containing all of the knowledge we had previously accumulated in our lifetime – but without its former influence or power:

..... "how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"

(Hebrews 9:14)

.... The residual image of your past, though lifeless, remains in your background for a reason. There may be parts of it you’ll still wish to draw upon. For example, you still want to drive a car, right? Simply by pulling out your keys and resorting to that knowledge again, and applying it in your conduct, you’ll draw that information into your new life, too (dupe).

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.... You still want to be gainfully employed, right? By returning to your job and applying yourself to your duties, you’ll retrieve those skills into your new life also (dupe). Or perhaps you’re a student, preparing to graduate. By applying yourself to your studies and taking those tests, you’ll draw that education into your new life as well (dupe).

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.... This whole process takes place naturally, so that you’ll ‘retrieve’ the old information simply by resorting to it persistently and applying it. This will ‘duplicate’ it into your new life as well, to become a part of your new creation. God explains this principle through another analogy:

.... "And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return."

(Hebrews 11:15)

.... Through this natural process, it won’t be long before you’ve stopped drawing on the old life in the important ways, because that knowledge has been effectively ‘duplicated’ into your new life, and you will simply be relying on another facet of the new creation.
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.... Since we are still living in this world, drawing on some of that old information is needful and legitimate. As Christians, we are in the world but not of the world; we use this world without abusing it. We may still draw upon the old information where appropriate, but we must also learn to ‘write over’ the old information when that is the appropriate thing to do:

.... "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus."

(Philippians 2:5)

.... We will discuss both aspect further in our next posting.

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Daily Bible Reading: 1 Corinthians 10