We need to renew our minds (Romans 12:2) and renovate our souls. Our souls may be full of things that are not according to God, and Jesus wants to rearrange things and make us new on the inside. We need to change and overhaul our thinking. This internal renovation process began when we first trusted the gospel and were born again, and it’s continuing until today.
Houses often need to be renovated. Maybe there’s too much stuff, or the layout is not working right anymore for the needs of the residents. The space needs to change so that the house works better.
Our souls are houses for God. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). God owns us, and he lives inside us. As the owner/occupant of our souls, God has the right to renovate us however he wants us to be. God wants to renovate our souls so they reflect his needs as his dwelling place.
Our mind is full of furniture, such as beliefs, ideas, desires, hopes, and dreams. We need to arrange this furniture of our minds so that it is according to God. Often we need to get rid of old furniture and bring new furniture in. Sometimes we need to do a more extensive renovation like knock down walls or build new walls. There may be walls in our souls – defensiveness, emotional responses, strongholds of sin, or fortresses of lies, and God wants to tear these walls down. We may need to build new walls to protect ourselves from evil.
The Things in Our Souls Determine Their Output
Everything within our souls contributes to their spiritual shape, and the condition of our souls determines our responses to the world.
Life comes at us, and external factors in the world influence our souls. These external factors might be people, information, places, spiritual forces, or situations. Our souls process these things, and based on what furniture or walls are within our souls, our souls produce output in the form of thoughts or emotions.
For example, a person who got into a car accident may have things within his soul that cause him to have difficulty driving. The bad experience of the accident created a wall within him that makes him so anxious he can’t drive anymore. He needs to renovate his soul with the help of God and break down this bad wall so that he does not have this bad outcome of anxiety anymore, and then he will be able to drive again.
Another person may think he is worthless. This lie has shaped his soul so that when he thinks of himself, he devalues himself so that he doesn’t take opportunities that God puts in front of him. This person needs his soul to be renovated so that he knocks down this lie, thinks about himself according to God, and takes divine opportunities to fulfill God’s purpose for his life.
A third person might believe that God is angry and always wanting to punish him. This person may, when facing a problem, conclude that God hates him and is punishing him through that problem. This false belief may cause him to run away from God in the face of challenges rather than running toward God at those times. This person needs to renovate his mind so that this lie is demolished, and he sees that God is good, and then when he faces a problem he draws on God’s strength.
God wants to renovate our souls so we produce good fruit – words, works, actions, and emotions that are pleasing to God.
Renovated by God or Satan?
God and Satan both want to renovate our souls so they can gain the output from our lives.
Satan is a mass-producer of renovations. He uses the mold of the world to press upon everyone and shape their souls into how he wants them to be (Romans 12:2). The mold of the world is the spirit of this age and the course of the world (Ephesians 2:2). The pressure of this mold involves things like living for money, chasing love or fame, living for lust, or pressure to conform to peers and society.
The Process of Renovation
God says we must renovate our minds/souls. We must exercise our free will and choose to do renovate our souls according to God, and then God will work with us and give us the strength to do it.
It’s expensive to renovate a house. If we want to renovate our souls, it is going to cost us something. We will have to give up things in order to make this renovation happen. We may have to give up friendships, dreams, or even careers. Jesus told us to count the cost before starting a spiritual building project (Luke 14:28).
Specialized tools are often required for renovation. God renovates us creatively through his word and Spirit in order to produce a unique outcome for each of us according to the unique callings for our lives. God uses the Holy Spirit, the word of God, and fellowship with other Christians in the body of Christ in order to renovate us.
When we begin renovating, we’ll have to tear things out and get rid of things. Things have to be hauled off to the dump. We must confess sin and repent of things. To repent literally means to change our minds, and this is vital to successful renovation. We may have to actually throw things out of our lives and get rid of lustful movies, violent video games, sinful music, drugs, new age stuff, etc.
Sometimes big walls must be torn down. We may have to get rid of dark corners in our souls and get more light in. We’ll need to make it a usable space, get the junk out, and get the air flowing. God wants our souls to be comfortable for him to live in. It takes God’s power to knock down some walls, and praise God for his power to demolish strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4).
New things will need to be brought in. The truth, light, and the Holy Spirit need to come in. We need to renovate our souls with good materials like gold, silver, and precious stones (1 Corinthians 3:21). We don’t want to renovate with worthless things like wood, hay, or straw that will be destroyed.
During renovation, things can feel uncomfortable. After the renovation starts, there may be a time when things seem worse than before the renovation began. There may be holes in the floor or in the ceiling, and the house may look worse or be hard to live in. When you renovate your soul, there may be a time you feel awkward or unsure. Maybe you relied on things for comfort or satisfaction, and now you have to throw them out. Satan may tempt you at that time to go back to Egypt. “It was better before you started.” But we must keep going, for God is one who began this work, and he’s going to bring it to completion (Philippians 1:6).
When you renovate a house and open things up, you may find other problems that need to be addressed. Maybe there’s a plumbing leak or bad electrical lines, mold, or asbestos. When we deal with things in our souls, we may find that one thing leads to another. If you throw away the alcohol, maybe you’ll have to suddenly deal with the problem that caused you to turn to the alcohol to cope in the first place. To get rid of insecurity, you may have to deal with the fear of man or with pride. Praise God that he is the great physician who knows how to heal our souls, and he’s renovating us according to his power and wisdom, and he can do all things.
The older the house, the bigger the problems can be. And so it can be with people – the longer a person has been in a sin or bad habit, the harder it can be to break that habit. But whether we’re 8 years old or 80 years old, it takes God’s power to renovate us. So it’s all a miracle, and regardless of age, God has to do it. And God can do anything. God can change us, whoever we are, and nothing is too hard for God.
After renovation, the house becomes more usable. The house can fulfill a greater purpose after a good renovation. God is renovating our souls so we can become fit vessels for his use. He wants the output of our lives to be more according to him. After we are renovated according to God, we will bear more of the fruit of the Spirit, operate in more of the gifts of the Spirit, know more of the word of God, have good works, and have good thoughts and emotions.
When we read the Bible or go to church, we’re not doing so just to check off a religious box. Instead, we’re renovating our souls. God wants us to think about things through the lens of his word and by the leading of his Spirit.
We all face many decisions as we go through life.
“How do I raise my family?”
“How do I find the right spouse?”
“How do I run my business?”
“What do I prioritize?”
“How do I treat my annoying neighbor?”
“How do I respond when I am slandered or mistreated?”
We want our souls renovated by God, so that we will be able to answer these questions according to his will and respond appropriately when these challenges come.
The output of our souls is based on the structure within our souls, and the things within our souls are determined by who has renovated our soul – whether God or Satan. May we allow God to renovate our souls so that we produce fruits that please him, and so that he’s not grieved while he lives within us (Ephesians 4:30). He wants to flow through us in an unhindered way, this will happen through divine renovation.
by Peter
