In Rom. 12: 2 we are told, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” If we want to grow as Christians this is the way to do it. Our minds have to be continually renewed if we expect to not only grow, but also to have victory in the Christian life. The phrase in the above verse, “Do not conform” has been paraphrased in the Phillips translation this way: “Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold.” That is exactly what the world system is always trying to do; brainwash us to its way of thinking and behaving. Through the media, people, and other sources, we are constantly bombarded with pressure to behave and live the way the rest of the world does. The only escape is to daily renew our minds with the principles taught in the Bible. The rest of the above verse tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. The word translated here as “transformed” is a word in the original Greek language from which we get our word “metamorphosis”. It is the same word we use to describe the transforming process of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. The way we renew our minds is by taking in God’s Word and meditating on it. Christian meditation is simply pondering verses and ideas from Scripture and thinking of how we can apply them to our lives. It is not like the Hindus chanting “OM” over and over again and trying to empty their minds. Christian meditation is a active process of filling the mind with Christian teachings and looking at them in different ways.

Garbage In, Garbage Out

There is an old expression in computer science called GIGO. It stands for “Garbage In, Garbage Out”. The idea behind the phrase is that whatever you put into a computer comes out, but just in different form. So if you input garbage data into a computer, you are going to get garbage as a result, although in a different form. The same thing applys to our minds. If we fill our minds with garbage thoughts, then garbage living will result in our lives. If we fill our minds with quality, growth encouraging thoughts and ideas, our lives will show it.

Driving Time Can Help You Grow As A Christian

One of the advantages we have as truck drivers is that we have a lot of time we can use on the road to fill our minds with solid, growth producing ideas and information. With the Bible on a set of CDs, we can spend as many hours as we want listening to Scripture and it will show in our lives. I remember talking to one of my Bible professors from college one time. He mentioned this fact. I told him it was sometimes hard to concentrate on listening to Bible tapes because my mind would wander. He told me it was still doing a lot of good if I listened even though my mind did wander at times. The very fact that the words of scripture from the tapes were going into my subconscious mind through my ears could still produce active results in my life. If you have ever studied about the subconscious mind, you know it has a profound influence on our behavior. In the same way, ideas which enter our minds through our hearing do have an effect on our thinking. And our actions result from our thinking.

“Try It, You’ll Like It”

The next time you’re in a store that has a set of Bible CDs, buy a set if you don’t already have one. Try listening to them for a month while you are driving down the road. Then evaluate the experiment to see if you can see some positive changes in your life and the way you look at things in general. I think you will discover a difference.

For those who are looking to do some serious study of the Bible, selecting a study Bible can be quite confusing. There is a veritable glut of available types on the market today. Knowing which one to choose can cause a lot of head scratching for new Christians especially. There are three choices I would recommend. Here are short reviews of them.

The Ryrie Study Bible

The first is the Ryrie Study Bible. Charles Ryrie was a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary. I don’t know if he is still there or retired. Years ago he compiled his notes into a Bible for study purposes and it is still one of the best in my opinion. Not only are the footnotes of exceptional quality, it also has very useful outlines and appendices covering such things as a detailed outline of basic Bible doctrines. You can’t go wrong if you were to choose this study Bible for your reading and study. For those of you who are up on such things, Ryrie is a premillennial dispensationalist, meaning he believes Christ will return to set up an earthly kingdom where He will reign for 1000 years before we enter the timeless eternity. This is the doctrine I personally hold to.

The NIV Study Bible

Another useful one is the NIV Study Bible. This one also has a trememdous amount of footnote material including maps and outlines. It is probably one of the largest selling study Bibles written today from a conservative theological point of view. In the footnotes on the prophetic verses of the Bible, it gives varying views.

The Schofield Study Bible

The last (but certainly not the least) study Bible I would recommend is the Schofield Study Bible. The Schofield Bible has been around for about 100 years. The first edition came out around 1907. It is available in the KJV and the NIV. It used to also be available in the New King James Version, but you might have to specially order that version from a bookstore, as I have not seen it for a while. Schofield is also a premillennial dispensationalist. While the footnotes on individual verses is not as extensive as Ryrie’s study Bible, it does have a good system for studying doctrinal topics in a orderly manner by a chain references system, which leads you from one scripture to another on various doctrines with plenty of explanatory notes.

There are a lot of study Bibles out there with notes directed more for personal application than doctrine. In my opinion, they don’t have a lot of “meat” to really sink your teeth into when it comes to learning the teachings of the Bible. If you ground yourself with a solid knowledge of basic Bible doctrine, I feel you will grow more as a Christian. Some of the so called “application” Bibles leave me still feeling hungry for some substantial teaching. That is why I would recommend a Bible like the Ryrie Study Bible. It is one Bible which has withstood the test of time and the notes are written in a manner where you really feel like you have learned something when you get through reading. It also has a good reference system for looking up questions you might encounter in your study and discussions with other people.

How would you like to have a firm grasp of the New Testament within two years spending just 20 minutes a day? What I am going to explain to you is called the Synthetic Method of Bible study. With this method you will end up with a comprehensive knowledge of the teachings in the New Testament. Why should you have a knowledge of the New Testament? To be sure, the Old Testament is important too. It’s all the Word of God. But for Christians living today, the New Testament holds some of the most important lessons for us to help us in our daily living.

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