Sober judgment, fueled by a healthy mind: That’s what lies near the core of this morning’s Scripture lesson.
In the apostle Paul’s estimation, our minds need changing, refreshment; in some cases, wholescale transformation that leads to behavior modification. This epic renewal rises from the grace of God’s Holy Spirit, and given that heavenly gift of Pentecost, we won’t act as the world of fallen Creation acts.
Writing first to the Romans, and now to you and me, what Paul has in mind isn’t so much our shunning of riotous living and other tawdry behavior – although those certainly are part and parcel of the problem. No, in the bigger, spiritual picture, Paul envisions our turning away from a worldly mindset – thinking the way that everybody else thinks, which too often is thinking for themselves. Paul encourages a new way of regarding ourselves, our skills and talents, and how we deem those in our midst.
When he ponders the human mind, Paul thinks not of the seat of human intellect but of a mindset or perspective on things and people. When the Holy Spirit transforms your mind, you start thinking about people and things the way God thinks, and your behavior toward things and people begins to act as God acts. That’s how we’re blessedly and miraculously able to mirror the likeness and attitude of the Lord whose image and mindset he makes us to reflect. Listen to the Word that God has spoken to a broken and fearful world –
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritualworship.Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God — what is good and acceptable and perfect.
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
Back in the day, a food pyramid explained how a healthy body depends on a balanced diet. The chart intended good nutrition, with the right proportions of food groups, and left little space for chips and dip, beer and pretzels, empty calories and other overly processed groceries. Yet the groaning of our bathroom scales – and the sorry state of our bloodwork – proclaim that too many of us still eat way too much of all the wrong things.
But, however good and faithful physical fitness might be, the apostle Paul sounds the alarm of mental and spiritual fitness. Just as a poor diet leads to bad health outcomes, what we consume with our minds either strengthens or weakens our attitude and outlook – aligns our hearts and minds with God’s life-saving intentions, or pits our fears and selfish desires against the very Kingdom of God and its always-good purposes.
Maybe, then, the reason we’re so anxious, stressed, and mentally flabby is because we’re bombarded with a glut of unhealthy content and misinformation. Which likely explains why faithful wisdom is in such short supply right about now! If we have any hope of letting the Holy Spirit transform our minds – as Paul so desperately yearns, we need training and guidance in healthier habits of knowledge intake.
Behold the “wisdom pyramid,” the brainchild of writer Brent McCracken. As with consuming healthy portions from the right “food groups,” the wisdom pyramid seeks faithful proportion of “knowledge groups.” Here, then, are Mr. McCracken’s building blocks for a strapping, robust, well-proportioned spiritual life that’s toned of true wisdom and rippling with pure joy:
At its base is Scripture. Just as carbohydrates are (or once were) the foundational level of the food pyramid, so also is the Bible the foundation of the wisdom pyramid. The written Word of the Lord is our daily bread. So of course a healthy diet of knowledge begins in the Bible. It’s the godly energy that keeps us going.
Above that, on level two, is the Church: the local, physical church on one hand, and church tradition and history on the other. As we learned the hard way during the COVID pandemic, our sanity depends on regular contact with physical community. And that’s what this and other local congregations provide. Gathering regularly in God’s house provides access to wise people whom we can know and by whom we are known, saints with whom we can be in face-to-face conversation for the sharing of both joy and concern.
The embodied rhythms of worship and liturgy in a local church also are important sources of truth. In the acts of singing, praying, and taking the Lord’s Supper at church on a Sunday lie something more eye-opening than in all the articles and posts that we’ve read online last week. Thank you for surrounding yourself, here in this place, with the action and voice of wisdom past, present, and future. Cling to such continuity as a foundation for your wisdom, as nourishment for the renewing of your mind.
Mr. McCracken places nature and beauty on level three. After all, the natural world does not lie. You cannot hold your own preferred truth or “alternative fact” about whether it’s raining, whether it’s windy, whether the good earth is dry and thirsty. It either is or it isn’t. Nature is a reliable and nourishing source of wisdom. The heavens declare the glory of God! So get outside, listen and learn!
Being in nature also builds humility – reminder that you are created one in a massively complex, divinely created world. The rhythms of nature – times and seasons, sabbath and rest – pulse within our bodies. Recognition of such connection cultivates gratitude for all that God has done.
So also does nature highlight beauty. Whether the natural beauty of God’s Creation, or the created beauty of human art and culture, beauty stimulates reflection, greater gratitude. Beauty cools the heat and slows the pace, makes space for simple enjoyment and careful observation. Beauty inspires further creation and expression, revealing truths about God and existence that mere words alone simply cannot fully capture.
Balance carefully your time in the beauty of nature or pastime and in the beauty of connection and community.
On to level four: books. Read them!
Learn to read, read to learn, read to enjoy. Read your way into the new habits of thinking that books cultivate. Books foster patience and discipline, demanding more time to process and wrestle with ideas. So read books. Read more old books than new books. Read the great books twice rather than a mediocre book once: fiction and nonfiction, poetry and prose, philosophy and literature. Spend more time reading books than wandering around the internet and scrolling on your phone. Which brings us to the highest sections of Mr. McCracken’s pyramid: the internet and social media.
The internet is not in the dreaded “fats and oils” top of the old food pyramid, because online communication is a fact of life today, and the internet does have plenty of good things going for it. The key becomes finding and focusing on the right sources. Go online, as needed, for specific purposes, but please don’t just “surf” the web and see where it takes you. Focus on trusted sources and content recommendation from the wise around you. And don’t fall for the clickbait!
Finally, at the peak, are social media. As the old food pyramid advised, consume social media sparingly. Perhaps minds need so much renewing – as Paul urges, because social media occupy the base level in too many personal wisdom pyramids. It is where several generations spend most of their time, and that’s not a healthy place to hang. Maybe like cookies, or brownies, or alcohol, social media are OK in small doses. But they’re not a healthy staple.
Worthy of note is the simple architecture of Mr. McCracken’s wisdom pyramid. It goes from the most enduring and eternal on the bottom – from “on Christ the solid rock I stand” – to the most fleeting and fickle on top – “All other ground is sinking sand!” So orient your knowledge diet around that which endures.
Personally I don’t claim to have the healthiest of diets. But I’m working on that spiritually, emotionally, and physically, even as I pray with the psalmist: “Create in me, a clean heart, O God. And renew a right spirit within me.”
In the end, the Spirit’s work doesn’t just change a disciple’s view of God. The Spirit also transforms the way God’s dearly beloved think of friend, neighbor, and stranger. The Spirit transforms you and me from those who seek only our own interests into people whom the Spirit equips to seek also the well-being of the people around us.
Quite simply, the Spirit graciously transforms us from separate individuals into members of the community – treasured and beloved members of the body of Christ.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit! Sober judgment, fueled by healthy mind: the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Pastor Grant M. VanderVelden shared this message during worship on Sunday, June 29, 2024, at First Presbyterian Church in Waukon, Iowa, USA. Scholarship, commentary, and reflection by Dale Fletcher, Scott Hoezee, Stan Mast, and Brett McCracken inform the message.
Also from Pastor Grant on Romans 12: “Spotting Jesus” and “Genuine Love“