Romans 12: A New Monday for a Renewed Mind

Introduction

How do you picture your Monday? For many people, it is the day we go back to work, with the same colleagues, the same difficulties, the same temptations. We arrive with ready-made ideas about the week that is starting. Davy Besson, at Église Lille Métropole, wanted to give his church "a new perception of Monday." His starting point: "I have my plans, but there is the King of kings," a king who wants to surprise us because he wants to renew our minds.

The message rests on a verse that stays with it from beginning to end, Romans 12:2, then on the creation account in Genesis 1 and on Asaph's experience in Psalm 73. The thread is simple: it is not circumstances that must change first, it is our outlook. And this change does not come from our efforts, it comes from the presence of God.

Message outline

1. When Monday is frightening

When he was younger, Davy Besson worked for five years in masonry. From his first days on building sites, he was hazed. His colleagues knew he was a Christian and they were "constantly provoking him," watching for his reaction.
Very quickly, Monday morning became something that scared him: "I was anxious." He knew he would be mocked, rejected and provoked.
He draws a conclusion: "sometimes it is the circumstances of our lives that dictate how we see things." The aim of the message is that Jesus Christ changes this perception, so that faith is born through our vision and we realize that the Creator of all things "has not said his last word."
The title of the sermon, "A New Monday," targets our habits: "God wants to bring you to see your habits in a new way." Monday can also stand for a circumstance or a situation you are living through.
Rather than telling yourself "Monday, I am going to face temptation" and living as a victim, you have the possibility to take a stand: "You are a child of God and you can bear fruit," and to give a good witness where you are so that Christ is glorified.

2. Romans 12:2, the verse of the morning

The preacher reads Romans 12:2 in the Semeur version: "Do not let the present world mold you, but let yourselves be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you can discern the will of God, what is good, what pleases him and what is perfect."
We can let ourselves be molded and shaped by the events we go through, to the point of having preconceived ideas. When we think while forgetting God's perspective, "our own patterns take over."
The goal is that God renews our minds, so that divine truth is included in our thinking and we can see him at work, "because God does not show himself where there is no faith."

3. An extraordinary cycle: from darkness to light, every morning

Genesis 1:1-5: in the beginning, the earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep. God said, "Let there be light," and he separated the light from the darkness. "There was evening and there was morning, the first day."
This account, one of the most beautiful pieces of Hebrew poetry, shows the artistic side of God. It sets up a repeated movement: over six days, God establishes new things, and no day is the same.
"If God made all things new during the first six days of the earth, he is still able today and tomorrow to make all things new": in your work with that difficult colleague, in your family with that complicated situation, in your finances that you struggle to manage. "God is newness because God is Creator."
The biblical day begins with the evening, that is, with chaos. In Hebrew, formless and empty evokes what is turned upside down. Things may start badly, but God comes to put order, to reset, to renew.
"The evening closes the door on everything that happened." Davy Besson lives this concretely: when he finds himself eating in the evening with his son and his wife, the day, even if it went badly, is over. He has already started a new day.
This rhythm is part of a "divine pedagogy": each day is an opportunity to live things differently.
The movement from evening to morning sums up the Gospel: God loved us so much that he sent what was most precious to him, his Son. While we were in darkness, he sent the one who is the light.
The preacher prophesies it over his audience: "Maybe you are in darkness, but the day is dawning because Christ is alive." Each day is like "a permanent cycle of death and resurrection."
He gives his testimony: before Christ came to find him, he had no goal. He lived by his desires and earned money to satisfy them. Christ gave him a purpose, changed him, transformed him: "I am what I am by his grace."
Lamentations 3:22-23: the Lord's loving kindnesses never cease, his compassions do not fail, they are new every morning. "Great is your faithfulness!"
"You have no right to say that tomorrow will be the same as today," because God's graces will show themselves. Monday becomes the opportunity to see Christ revealed in a new way.

4. Asaph and the sad finding of a horizontal vision

Asaph is a singer of the Lord, a composer, a performer, an artist. Yet he goes through complicated times and his view of his surroundings is distorted. He is "in the fog," as if blinded by his situation and his difficulties.
Psalm 73:12: this is what the wicked are like, always at ease, they pile up riches. These wicked are the arrogant, the violent, the oppressors, the mockers, the blasphemers, and yet they seem to be doing well.
The preacher brings it up to date: I spend time reading his word, bearing witness, and "I feel like all I reap is trouble." Meanwhile the other person, "let's call him Arthur," looks so happy, he found love "while I have been searching for 5 years." The question finally comes: is it really worth being a Christian?
A perception that is not renewed leaves room for lies, for things that "may seem to be but are not." In reality, those Asaph envies are far from the presence of God.
This is what Davy Besson calls a horizontal vision: it passes only through the human filter, without seeing the link with God or the truth behind things.
There is also the devil, "the prince of the air," who wants to influence our thinking. When we go around in circles, envying and comparing, everything becomes negative for ourselves and positive for others. "He is a manipulator." Without a renewed mind, we become vulnerable and tell ourselves: "My Monday will be like usual. My life will be like usual."

5. The divine reset in the house of God

Psalm 73:16-17: "I set myself to think, I tried to understand, I found all this far too unjust, until the day I entered the house of God and considered the fate that awaits them."
Television imposes ideas on us. In the house of God, we regain the ability to think, to stop simply enduring what we see and what we live, and to take a stand.
The key is to enter the presence of God, to find communion and intimacy again. A breaking point is needed, a key moment. "Change does not happen through my own efforts." It is God who renews the mind, by his Spirit.
When I align myself with God's thinking, my vision becomes vertical, with the divine filter. Jesus, who is the truth, comes to destroy the lie: "You think they are happier than you? But do they have the conviction you have that you are a child of God?"
In the Gospels, some did not even need to talk with Jesus: the woman with a flow of blood, rejected by everyone, tells herself that it is enough to touch the edge of his garment, and she is healed. Another man says: "Just say the word, and my servant will be healed." In contact with Jesus, all things become new.
Still, we have to take that time: "you have to stop. You have to say stop." The preacher offers this prayer: "Lord, I want to place myself before you. I want to take this time with you because it is so good and deep down I need it so much."

6. Let God rewrite your identity

Psalm 73:21-22: when Asaph's heart was bitter and he was tormented, he was foolish and ignorant, and behaved before God like a senseless beast. In the presence of God, his mind is renewed: he becomes clear-headed again and recognizes that he was "manipulated, as it were" by all his thoughts.
Jesus said: "I am the bread of life." If we need this daily bread, we need to come to him every day, so that he renews our minds and they become "the soil in which he can sow a seed called faith."
Davy Besson confides: "I always believed I had nothing good to say," that he was not able to express himself or to write. For years, he saw himself as a victim because of his masonry colleagues who kept telling him he was "good for nothing."
In the presence of God, he met the Father. John 1:12-13: to all who received him, the Word gave the right to become children of God, born not of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
"Let God rewrite even your identity." As a child of God, you are no longer only a victim. You can take a stand in prayer, realizing who you are and not what others have said about you. "When God begins a process of change, he sees it through to the end."

7. The result of a new perception: he holds you by the hand

Psalm 73:23: "I am always with you. You have taken hold of my right hand." Asaph realizes that even when his vision was not renewed, God had not abandoned him.
According to the letter to the Hebrews, we are strangers and pilgrims on the earth: our way of functioning, speaking and thinking is different, because we are children of God.
From Monday on, even if you believe things are closed, they can be new, because the Creator himself is involved in your life, as Father, Son and Spirit. "What is impossible for people is possible for God."
The renewal of the mind is not external: "Circumstances, situations are not going to change. People are not going to change." It produces a change in the heart, and because the heart is changed, the vision is transformed. You only need to see through the filter of faith, "the assurance of things hoped for, the proof of what is not seen."
The preacher concludes with a call: "Lord, here I am. Come and renew my mind," and with a blessing: "May God give you a new Monday. May God give you a new reading of the times and circumstances."

Key takeaways

It is often circumstances that dictate how we see things. God wants to renew our thinking so that we see our lives through his eyes (Romans 12:2).
In the Bible, the day begins with the evening: chaos comes first, then God puts things in order. The evening closes the door on what happened and every morning his compassions are renewed.
A horizontal vision, made of comparison and envy, leaves room for lies. The vision becomes vertical when we enter the presence of God.
Change does not come from our efforts. It is God who renews the mind, in contact with Jesus, and he can rewrite even our identity as children of God.
Even when our sight was clouded, God did not abandon us: he took hold of our right hand.

Personal application

With what state of mind do you approach your next Monday, and which circumstances dictate your view of things today?
Is there a past day or situation that you keep carrying, while God invites you to close the door of the evening and begin a new day?
Whom are you comparing yourself to right now, and what lie has that comparison planted in your thinking?
When did you last take the time this week to stop and place yourself in the presence of God so that he renews your mind?
What word spoken over you by others do you need to let God rewrite, in the light of your identity as a child of God?

Verses cited

Frequently asked questions

What does "a new Monday" mean in this message?

For Davy Besson, Monday represents the start of a week that we often approach with ready-made ideas, sometimes with anxiety. God wants to redefine our habits and our way of seeing things. Monday, like any circumstance of life, then becomes the occasion to see Christ revealed in a new way.

Why does the biblical day begin with the evening?

In Genesis 1, there was evening, then there was morning. The preacher sees in it a movement that goes from chaos and darkness to light. The evening closes the door on what happened: even if the day went badly, it is over, and God can set new things in place.

How did Asaph regain a right vision in Psalm 73?

Asaph envied the wicked who seemed at ease and rich. His vision was horizontal, filtered by his human gaze alone. Everything changed when he entered the house of God. In the presence of God, his mind was renewed and he understood that God had never abandoned him: "You have taken hold of my right hand."