Changed Your Mind Lately

Isaiah 64:7-8 "No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have given us over to our sins. Yet you, Lord are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand."

While sometimes change can be fun, other times it is very difficult.

If you are a leader and you want to be effective, you had better learn how to change your mind. Forgive me for being so blunt, but if you cannot change your mind, get out of leadership! You are in the wrong role!

Is change easy? Is it hard? I would suggest that it is both. You and I change our clothes, change our shoes, and eat something different every day. Even though there are some aspects of our lives that we do not change often, we will eventually change them. When the beef prices go up, we change to chicken; when our pants get too tight, we change into the new style of clothing. Change can be fun.

But change is also hard. Think about moving to another home. My wife and I have been thinking about moving for the last three years. It is so hard to give up the things we have where we live, but we both know that we will have to give them up if we move. How about changing churches, or changing jobs? We all know how hard that can be. Change can be so difficult!

While there are “things” we struggle with changing, there is also the matter of changing our minds. Some find it easy to change their minds. However, some are so dogmatic about what they believe; changing would cause them incredible stress. Still, the Bible Commands us to change our minds. Reflect on Romans 12:2 

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will" (Romans 12:2).

God Requires that We Change Our Minds

I begin many of my seminars with this statement: “If you cannot change your mind about something, you cannot spiritually grow.” Changing is easy when someone tells us when and how to do it. However, I believe that success from change will only last if we really embrace what was “renewed” in us. Additionally, this verse tells us that we will fail with God’s vision if something does not “renew” or change in our minds before we attempt to pursue that vision.

In short, lasting change in methodology is the result of real change of mind in philosophy and/or theology. In practice what does that look like? Are you and I not fully convinced already of what we believe? I see nothing wrong with holding strong convictions, do you?

We will fail with God's vision if something does not "renew" or
change our minds before we attempt to pursue it.

I once had a strong conviction that my infant baptism was sufficient for me as a Christian. (Hold on now, this article is NOT about baptism!) However, there came a time in my personal Bible study when I felt a sense of the Spirit causing a change of my mind. Over a period of years it came to the point where the change in my mind caused me to participate in the adult baptism of my body. Whether you believe in infant baptism or adult baptism makes no difference in this way. During the time my mind changed, on the day I was baptized, and in the days following, no one who knew me would deny that my life was being transformed in the likeness of Christ.

Changed Minds Bear the Likeness of Christ

Isn’t being transformed into the likeness of Christ what it is all about? While God’s word never changes, the road of sanctification sometimes looks different. My road is different from yours.

Does the change in my theology make me a better leader? You bet it does. However, it is not because I am now fully convinced of adult baptism. It is because I know that I am penetrable. I want Jesus, my potter, to shape this chunk of clay.

Please do not feel that I am encouraging frequent changes in your theology. I am not. I change my theology very slowly, but I do change. Nevertheless, you and I have plenty of less important convictions and beliefs that need to be changed. Which ones, you ask?

Try identifying the ones you are fully convinced of today. And be ready to change your mind about one of those tomorrow.



Photos courtesy of Klearchos Kapoutsis and Casey Serin.