Renewing Your Mind
Did you know, in World War II there were attempts to use bat bombs? A dentist from Pennsylvania thought the bats, who can carry close to their own body weight, could be strapped with small incendiary devices set on a timer. The bats could be transported while hibernating and then once deployed hide in the eaves of buildings relatively unnoticed. No, this idea wasn't kicked around and discarded. It was developed for YEARS and seemingly no one, not one person stopped and said, "Wait a second, does this idea really make sense?" Even after some bats that were armed escaped, and landed on a fuel truck at a base destroying many buildings and a visiting general's car, the project went on.
In psychology we might say this is an example of groupthink. "Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome." And while such thinking can sometimes lead to explosive situations in organizations (see what I did there), it's almost as detrimental to us as individuals, and doubly so for leaders.
If we only work with, worship with, hang out with, and converse with those who look and think and agree with us, we are very much in danger of creating our own little groupthink echo chamber. This becomes even more amplified when those we serve are also carbon copies of ourselves.
How do we combat our default human desire to be comfortably surrounded by those who think like us? Here are a few places to begin.
1. Seek Community not carbon copies - We will never find an organization or a person who 100% agrees with us. (In fact if you do run, run far away. Many psychological thrillers begin with a new friend who thinks like you because they want to BE you.) If we are looking for people or churches or organizations to join where we agree with everything they claim they believe; we will be looking for a very long time and end up quite lonely in our existence. We should seek to find a diverse and authentic community to serve and grow with, not a huddle of similarity.
2. Embrace Growth - In education there is this concept known as the zone of proximal development. It means that most learning occurs when we are stretched just beyond what we can already do. If we are around people just like us, we aren't being stretched or challenged. And if we aren't challenged we aren't growing. We should embrace the idea that we are learners and we can learn from anybody, even if we think we only agree with them 1%.
3. Walk Humbly - People like to criticize others for "always thinking they are right." But as my friend Shannon likes to say, it would be silly to walk around believing things you actually think are wrong. We all think we are right, that's why we believe what we do. But our beliefs and our faith can actually be strengthened if we are willing to challenge our own thinking. And that starts by being humble enough to admit we might be wrong about some things.
Romans 12:2 in the NET reads, “Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God—what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.”
In the original Greek the verb tense of the words translated “be conformed” is interesting. It indicates a passive transformation, one that happens subtlety and steadily over time while at the same time suggesting some awareness, some consciousness, to the changes taking place. This is why groupthink is so powerful, our thoughts begin to meld or conform with those around us without any effort on our part. Yet if we were to take a moment to pause and consciously think about our thought process we might recognize the changes in our thinking that had taken place.
Science now knows what scripture has always taught, we can control our thought life (2 Corinthians 10:5). And with this knowledge comes the power and responsibility to hone our critical thinking skills and avoid the powerful slumber of our mind that comes from comfort of sameness in those around us. As followers of Christ we must seek a transformed mind so we can continue to awaken our souls to God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will and our role in bringing His Kingdom to earth as it is in heaven.
