Unfortunately, we live in a culture that’s filled with garbage. Movies, shows, and songs that glorify sin abound. Social media and the internet make this content extremely easy to access.
Perhaps even more unfortunately, it’s becoming normal for Christians to consume this kind of content. We make excuses for it, claiming we like it because it’s creative or funny or entertaining. We try to pretend we’re unaffected by the bad words and images, but they stick in our minds. Sometimes, they play over and over—and we can’t seem to stop them.
That’s why we need to be careful about what we choose to look at and listen to. Maybe we’re not affected by every word we hear and every image we see. But when we continually fill our minds with immoral things, they begin to corrupt the way we think, speak, and act. But God calls us to be changed by the renewing of our minds.
The Practical Path to Renewal
How can we expect to have renewal of our minds with vulgar language from music, sexual scenes from movies, and inappropriate images from social media constantly running through our minds?
We can’t.
So is there a way we can have renewal? How can our minds be refreshed and restored?
The answer is simple: by putting things in our minds that renew them.
This doesn’t mean we can only listen to Chris Tomlin worship music or only watch Christian movies like God’s Not Dead or only read books written by pastors. But it does mean that we must choose to put edifying things into our minds.
Maybe you need to delete a certain app that causes you to stumble. Maybe you need to discard a book that has foul language. Maybe you need to stop watching a Netflix show that includes sexual innuendo. Maybe you need to stop listening to a song that takes God’s name in vain.
It is challenging to not be conformed to this world because it easily ensnares us. However, if we choose to look at and listen to encouraging things, we can grow as believers and have renewed minds.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2 NASB1995)
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