19 Sep Born Again (Part 8): You Have a New Mind!
Born again people have a new ability to think God’s thoughts after Him because God has given them a new mind. This does not mean that Christians are smarter than non-Christians, or that non-Christians are unable to come to great insights through general revelation in areas such as medicine or engineering. However, it does mean that apart from a new mind, the things of God are not perceived and embraced. First Corinthians 2:14–16 juxtaposes the unregenerate mind with the regenerated mind: “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned…. But we have the mind of Christ.”
In particular, the new mind of a spiritually born again person craves the nourishment of Scripture akin to how newborn babies crave milk. First Peter 2:2 encourages born again people: “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.” Also, Romans 7:22 speaks of the regenerated person having a trust and interest in and submission to Scripture: “For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being.”
As a 19-year-old college freshman and new Christian, I started reading the Bible for hours nearly every day, attending Bible studies, attending a Bible-preaching church, and buying Christian reference books to help me study the Bible – all without any pressure, guilt, coercion, legalism, or religion. I had a deep desire to learn the Bible and think God’s thoughts after Him. The way I thought about most of the world and my role in it changed and continues to change as my appetite for Scripture and the renewing of my mind only grows. Since being born gain by God, I have never struggled to study Scripture, and I think much of that is because I have never seen Bible study as something I have to do but, rather, as something I get to do, because in my regenerated heart it is something I want to do. This was a completely new experience for me, as previously I had absolutely zero interest in reading the Bible.
What major mindsets have you seen change since you became a Christian?
