Understanding Why We Still Struggle With Old Ways of Thinking
Romans 12:2 tells us to “let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” Most believers in Christ have heard that verse many times, yet many of us still find ourselves struggling with the same fears, insecurities, discouragements, and emotional reactions year after year. We love Jesus Christ. We read God’s Word. We pray and seek His Will for our lives. So why do some of those old ways of thinking seem so difficult to overcome? Most of us understand that renewing the mind involves learning Scripture. But it goes deeper than that. It also involves allowing Jesus Christ to transform not only what we know, but also the way we see ourselves, our circumstances, and the expectations we begin to carry because of what we have experienced in life.
Why We Still Struggle Even After We Know What God Says
There is no question that Scripture is essential to spiritual growth. But many believers have discovered that knowing what God says and living as though we truly believe it are not always the same thing. We can know that God loves us and still struggle with feelings of unworthiness. We can know that He is faithful and still find ourselves worrying about the future. We can know that He forgives us and still carry guilt from things He has already forgiven. If renewing the mind were simply a matter of gaining more knowledge, many of our struggles would disappear much more quickly than they do.
Part of growing spiritually is allowing God to show us the things within us that are hindering our faith and affecting our walk with Him. For many of us, there is a difference between what we say we believe and how we actually live that out in real life. We love God, and we truly want to follow Him, but there are still distractions, habits, and desires that pull at our attention and affect our consistency. This is why, at times, we find ourselves agreeing with God’s Word in principle, but struggling to fully live it out the way we know we should.
The Struggle Between God’s Promises and What We Feel Inside
Jesus Christ tells us that His words are spirit and life. Yet if we’re honest, many of us have read God’s promises, and at the same time, we were feeling something completely different on the inside. Romans 15:13 (NLT) says, “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” Knowing that God is the Source of hope and that He desires to fill us with joy and peace should bring tremendous comfort and confidence to our lives. Yet many believers still find themselves struggling with fear, discouragement, and uncertainty.
The problem is that many of us are carrying thoughts, beliefs, and reactions that have been operating beneath the surface for years. Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” What we truly believe affects more than we realize. It shapes how we see ourselves, how we respond to situations, what we expect from God, and how we interpret His promises. We may know what Scripture says, but still find ourselves reacting out of fear, doubt, rejection, or insecurity, or from things we have carried for a long time without even realizing it. God wants to bring those things into the light because they continue to affect the way we live and respond in everyday life.
When Jesus Brings Truth Into the Places Where Old Thinking Has Lived
Renewing the mind is part of that process. It is how the Holy Spirit helps us see what is not in agreement with God’s truth and learn to replace it with what He says. Because until truth reaches the place where the lie has been operating, information alone will not bring lasting change.
This is why Jesus Christ said in John 8:31–32, “If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Freedom comes when His truth reaches the places where those old ways of thinking have been operating. Not just the thoughts we are aware of, but the deeper places where assumptions, fears, and expectations have been formed over time. As we stay in His Word, Jesus begins to challenge what we have come to believe and replaces it with what is true in Him. ■
Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
“What Does It Mean to Renew the Mind?”, written by Reverend Fran Mack, edited by Kim Times, for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2026. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to encouraging and inspiring Christian Women to live boldly through God’s Word.
