Renewing Of The Mind

Psalm 23 can radically change your life! It is one of the most beloved and well known chapters in the Bible. It is only one hundred and twenty-two words in length. In fact, many people have it memorized, or at least can recite portions from memory.

Hidden in every line is truth that will transform us if we will allow it to. The apostle Paul says in Romans 12:2, “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” And that is precisely what this Psalm is about, transformation! Many times we go to the scripture looking for information while God our Shepherd is wanting transformation in our lives.

I remember when I returned home from a trip back to where I grew up in Ohio. My journey was dictated by the death of my grandfather. (I always called him Grandpa.) He was a great man in my eyes as well as many others as was evident by the masses of people who came to pay their respects.

Grandpa was a shepherd, not a pastor. He literally raised sheep. I watched him shepherd sheep. I watched him care for them and meet their needs. (I even raised a few of his sheep in our basement.) One great lesson Grandpa taught me was that a good shepherd has the smell of sheep on his hands.

Psalm 23 speaks that truth loud and clear...the good shepherd has the smell of sheep on his hands. He is not hiding. He is not distant. He is not a weekend shepherd. He is always with us caring for us and meeting our every need.

In the few blogs that follow, I want to share with you some of the truth from Psalm 23 that I discovered while being mentored by a shepherd I called Grandpa. These words are not written for your information, rather for your transformation.

You see, Psalm 23 is truly a system of thought. It tells us what God is really like and how he meets our every need. The more you understand the Good shepherd of Psalm 23, the easier it is to trust him.

Let me start this series of blogs by giving you a challenge, a prescription if you will; for you to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind”.

Prescribed reading: In the morning Read Psalm 23 in silence when you first arise. Read carefully and slowly. Don’t rush through it so that you can say with fidelity that you did it. Instead, letting the truth of each phrase capture the attention of your heart, mind and spirit. Read it again in like manner at noon. Read it once more just before going to bed at night, only this time read it out loud. Do this for thirty days consecutively and let nothing come between you and this transformation process. As Paul says in Romans 12, you will be a transformed into a “New person by changing the way you think.”