way of thinking

“Gonna change my way of thinking
Make myself a different set of rules
Gonna change my way of thinking
Make myself a different set of rules
Gonna put my good foot forward
And stop being influenced by fools”

On his Slow Train Coming album, Bob Dylan sang, “Gonna change my way of thinking.” (See BobDylan.com). He is talking about a change rooted in “a different set of rules” that take shape in him putting his best foot forward. These lines sound like they could be informed by the psalmist who is meditating upon Torah.

Like a slow train coming, Torah calls persons, families, culture and eventually the cosmos back into order, true Shalom. Israel sees Torah as a gift of the covenant Creator because it reveals God’s order for creation. By re-ordering a world that is out of order, Torah calls humanity and creation back to who we are and what we are called to be.

Torah is like a call of the father to the child. The power to change, to develop, to enter into the order of Torah is within the relationship between the father and the child and not independent of relation. Torah is the instruction, the revelation by the father, the training of the Father, but Torah is not the power to become a son nor is it the means of adoption into the family.

The Exodus tells the story of the Lord redeeming the enslaved Hebrews and calling them to Himself as the Children of Israel. They are freed and made a kingdom of priest by the power of the Lord’s redeeming hand. As children of the covenant, the Father now gives them instructions that reinforce this parent-child relationship and expectations for living in this new house, new family, new world.

Israel has to change their way of thinking and acting. They have ingrained habits from a slave empire. This involves a change of worship, a change of imagination, a change of memory, a change of story, a change of language, a change of ritual, and so on. Torah trains the people in the way of change.

This change is not simply person, but societal and involves generations. It involves failure, loss, God’s forgiveness and act of redemption. Torah calls for a change, an order, a way of living that is more than humans can accomplish either individually or societally. After centuries of training the hearts and minds of Israel, the Lord Himself enters into the story in Christ. He enfleshes the way of Torah. He fulfills Torah in humanity while teaching humanity they way in word and deed. He also enters into the judgment of violating the very order of creation. He takes the death of sin upon himself and leads us into life in himself.

In Christ Jesus, “the law of Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2). Paul tells us to set our minds on “life and peace.” He also tells us, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”(Romans 12:2)

Our mind (renewal of your mind) and the body (living sacrifice) are both offered to God and God’s people in service. We are redeemed in Christ. We are adopted into the family in Christ. Yet, in all of Paul’s letters (and other New Testament books), we are given specific instruction regarding the way we think and act toward God, other people and the world around us.

We still have to change our way of thinking. By His Spirit, we begin the lifelong path of change: We bring our reason, our imagination, our memories, our emotions, our vision, our speak, and our physical action under the discipline of obedience in meditation, worship, prayer, friendship, and service. We enter a way of reformation, a way of thinking that is constantly learning and relearning truth in light of Christ.

This means that we enter a way of submission, of humility that continually brings our assumptions and experience and understanding back to Scripture, back to prayer, back to the community of faith. It is a life of learning and letting go. A life of dependence upon God’s faithfulness even as it is a life of tuning and training our minds, our emotions, our hands, our feet, our mouths in the way of the Lord.

We are learning how to behold the work of Christ in Scripture and in the creation around us. We are learning and relearning to not consider ourselves more highly than we ought. We are learning to have the mind of Christ, to submit ourselves one to another, to love fully and truly and right.

This is not an overnight movement. It’s a slow training coming that will be suddenly unveiled.