Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. (Romans 12:2 NKJV)

Anyone who has spent time on the London Tube will be well aware of the caution to mind the gap. The gap in mind is the space between the subway train and the platform. The admonition is to pay attention to where you’re walking lest you fall into the gap (Sounds like a nice slogan for a clothing store, doesn’t it?).

The Bible also speaks of a gap, the space between where we are as Christians in our conformity to Christ and where we need to be. Paul speaks of Christ being “formed in us” (Gal. 4:19). That happens by the grace of God in sanctification.

The primary station for formation of Christ in us is the mind. Paul points that out in his letter to the Romans: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12:2). The operation center for spiritual transformation is the mind.

We enter the station to embark on the Christian life when we come to Christ in repentant faith, turning from any ability of our own to save ourselves, turning from rebellion that exalted self over the lordship of Christ. The most prominent word in the New Testament for repentance is metanoeo, which speaks to a change of mind.

In Ephesians, Paul insists that we should “no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind” (4:17). The idea is that we were dead in sin but now by God’s grace we are alive in Christ (Eph. 2:1-5). The apostle features the mind as the switching house between the put-off and put-on of Ephesians 4.

“Put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:22-24).

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