On popular home makeover shows, a professional team of designers, carpenters, and electricians will descend on an unsuspecting homeowner and renovate a part, or all, of their home in a matter of hours or days. It is inspiring and exhausting at the same time! The work of renovation is a good mental image for the idea of renewal found in Romans 12:1: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

A Christian’s mind needs to be renovated (renewed) every day. Have you ever purchased a “fixer upper”? You found a house in the location you wanted, at the price you wanted, but a lot of repair work was needed. For example, maybe you planned to renovate that dysfunctional kitchen as soon as possible because the floor tiles were broken, the cabinet doors were hanging off the hinges, the sink leaked, and the oven was useless. Of course, maybe you just settled for getting in that kitchen and cleaning it up real good. You scrubbed away all the grime and even put a fresh coat of paint on the walls. That certainly looked better! But… the broken things were still broken.

We refer to our sins as having been “washed in the blood,” and the Bible speaks about the “washing of water by the Word.” Spiritual cleansing is a required first step for renewal. But after salvation, our mind is still under the curse of sin, and it needs to be renovated all. the. time. It’s the renovation job that never ends! Hey, some of us have done that too!! 😉 What does this daily demo and reno look like?

*We must invest in knowing the truth.

*We must invest in believing the truth.

*We must invest in obeying the truth.

*We must rejoice in the truth.

This is why the spiritual disciplines of prayer and Bible reading are so important. They are a way to adjust our minds daily and allow God’s truth to take hold on us and change us. Relying on our sinful flesh and leaning to our own understanding is like living in that dysfunctional kitchen. It will be so hard to have any growth or progress! But the truth of God’s Word can transform our mind. It will reveal the broken areas, and the Holy Spirit will provide all the power necessary to make repairs (Eph. 1:19; 6:10).