you haven’t dealt with the root cause. The change doesn’t feel
natural, so eventually you give up, go off your diet, and quit
exercising. You quickly revert to your old patterns.
There is a better and easier way: Change your autopilot—the
way you think. The Bible says, “Let God transform you into a new
person by changing the way you think.”^5 Your first step in spiritual
growth is to start changing the way you think. Change always
starts first in your mind. The way you thinkdetermines the way
you feel,and the way you feel influences the way you act. Paul said,
“There must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes.”^6
To be like Christ you must develop the mind of Christ. The
New Testament calls this mental shift repentance,which in Greek
literally means “to change your mind.” You repent whenever you
change the way you think by adopting how God thinks—about
yourself, sin, God, other people, life, your future, and everything
else. You take on Christ’s outlook and perspective.
We are commanded to “think the same way that Christ Jesus
thought.”^7 There are two parts to doing this. The first half of this
mental shift is to stop thinking immaturethoughts, which are
self-centered and self-seeking. The Bible says, “Stop thinking like
children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be
adults.”^8 Babies by nature are
completely selfish. They think only
of themselves and their own needs.
They are incapable of giving; they
can only receive. That is immature
thinking. Unfortunately, many
people never grow beyond that
kind of thinking. The Bible says
that selfish thinking is the source of
sinful behavior: “Those who live following their sinful selves think
only about things that their sinful selves want.”^9
The second half of thinking like Jesus is tostartthinking
maturely,which focuses on others, not yourself. In his great
The Purpose-Driven Life 182The way you think
determines the way you feel,and the way you feel influences
the way you act.