Are You Ready?
Edward Hopper, New York Room, 1932
I am currently reading David Brooks’ fascinating new book, just out this week, How To Know A Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen. The book is timely, to say the least. With so much hatred floating around, so much judgment that separates us from one another, we need to learn better how to connect meaningfully with each other.
The Apostle Paul, particularly in Romans 12, is way out in front on how we go about this. First we must anchor our lives on foundational commitments. He ends Chapter 11 sketching out that foundation:
How deep are the wealth
and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! . . . .
From him and through him and for him all things exist–
to him be glory for ever! Amen.
As he prepares to talk about breaking down the barriers separating us, he grounds everything on the wealth and wisdom of God! Lesslie Newbigin once declared, in our confused age, we must find “a new starting point for thought,” a new foundation from which to reorient our whole way of thinking. This foundation, says Paul, is found in the one from whom and through whom and for whom all things exist.
Once that foundation is established, Paul then launches into some of the most remarkable writing ever on how meaningfully to connect with others.
THEREFORE, my friends, I implore you. . . . Conform no longer to the pattern of this present world, but be transformed by the renewal of your minds. Then you will be able to discern the will of God, and to know what is good, acceptable, and perfect.
We know, don’t we, how conformed we are to the way of the present world? At least I do. We are exceedingly self-focused. Before we can accept, affirm, and love someone else, we eye them with suspicion and judgment. We measure them in terms of some category. This is what our culture teaches us.
Paul believes we need a radical change from this way of seeing things and people. By the “renewing of our minds,” we will begin to know “what is good, acceptable, and perfect.”
I’ve always been blessed to live in communities of intellectuals. We are the ones who prize and honor the life of the mind, a deep and worthy center for education. But I think Paul has something even broader in mind when he talks about renewing the mind. He imagines radical new ways of treating others, how we value others, how we actually love them. He is asking us to change completely our mindset, our view of the world, our starting point, in the way we see others.
Paul’s expansive list is breathtaking:
Do not think too highly of yourself, but form a sober estimate. . . .
Let us use the different gifts allotted to each of us by God’s grace: the gift of inspired utterance, for example, let us use in proportion to our faith; the gift of administration to administer, the gift of teaching to teach, the gift of counselling to counsel. If you give to charity, give without grudging; if you are a leader, lead with enthusiasm; if you help others in distress, do it cheerfully. . . .
Let love of the Christian community show itself in mutual affection. Esteem others more highly than yourself. . . .
Let hope keep you joyful; in trouble stand firm; persist in prayer; contribute to the needs of God’s people, and practise hospitality. . . . Live in agreement with one another. Do not be proud. . . . Do not keep thinking how wise you are.
N. T. Wright has said that Paul was exhorting the new citizens of the early church to be “transformed people,” but that change must be coupled with becoming “transforming people." In other words, we renew our minds so that we see people differently from the way the world sees them. We will flourish, but we will also be able to help others flourish. We can actually change the world as we renew our minds in this way.
Changing our lives and our world starts at home, with our angle of vision on everything, the way we see the ones we purport to love, the way we meet others we don’t even know. So don’t think too highly of yourself, I say to myself, and recognize and revel in the gifts of others; be joyful in hope; practice hospitality, and persist in prayer; let love bring the Christian community together in affection—this is not a to-do list but an invitation into flourishing lives and a flourishing world.
Oh my, I’m ready to begin. How about you?