Does your mind need renewing?

In Romans 12, Paul urges believers to be transformed by the renewing of their minds rather than conformed to the world. In this sermon, Dr. Toby Holt shows why the Christian mind must be renewed — and how God does it.

Questions this sermon answers:

1. Why does the mind need renewing? Because even a remarkable mind is affected by sin — forgetful, selective, prone to error. It needs to be reshaped by God's truth.

2. What does it mean not to "be conformed to this world"? To stop being pressed into the world's mold of thinking, and instead let God reshape how we think and live.

3. How are we transformed? By the renewing of the mind through God's Word, so we can discern and do His good and acceptable will.

"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." — Romans 12:2 (NKJV)

Speaker: In Romans 12, Paul urges believers to be transformed by the renewing of their minds rather than conformed to the world. In this sermon, Dr. Toby Holt shows why the Christian mind must be renewed — and how God does it.

As a man thinks, so he is.

The thoughts you think and the subject you focus upon,

not what you meditate upon, is important.

And there needs to be some attention given

to that which you allow to affect your mind and your thoughts.

The human mind is capable of many great things.

It's far more amazing than any computer.

However, our minds are also riddled by sin.

Because of that, they need to be renewed,

which is the exact word that the Apostle Paul uses in today's sermon from Romans 12.

You know, Christianity is a mind-altering, perception-bending reality.

If God has entered your heart, if God has come in,

then He has simultaneously entered your mind, because they're really one and the same.

If God has entered your heart, then He has entered your mind in a way that has changed your perception,

not only of him but of everything that he has made if the creator has entered into your heart

if you are indwelt by the Spirit then by virtue of the creator being within you now have eyes by

which to see his creation now they're different than before you're regenerated before you were

made anew this is a change we've talked about it's called regeneration by which we're spiritually

flatlining at one point we no longer are God has started to work he will finish it and that work

has affected the way we see reality, the way we see everything around us. Now, it wasn't always

that way. Some of us can remember a time when we weren't believers. Some of us can remember a time

perhaps even which we shook our fists at the heavens. Some of us can remember these times in

which we were opposed to God, opposed to his ways. There was a time when we were meandering,

mindless dopes, and Romans 1 uses even stronger language to convey that. Romans 1 says our

condition was this says since the creation of the world God's invisible attributes have been clearly

seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead so they're

without excuse because although they knew God they did not glorify him as God nor were they thankful

but they became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened Romans 1 Paul suggests

earlier in the very same book that we're studying today we're in Romans 12 today this is Romans 1

and in Romans 1, Paul said, look, the unsaved man, the unsaved heart, the unsaved mind is futile in what it perceives.

It can think thoughts all day long.

It can think all manner of things, and yet there's a futility that is inherent to it because it is apart from God.

Futility.

It suggests exercise without achievement.

It suggests effort without success.

And it's hard to imagine how our thought life can become futile, but let's try for a moment.

Let's say, let's say that you have an unregenerate mind.

Let's say there's an individual who is not saved, doesn't believe, spiritually flatlining within.

Let's say this is a smart individual, intellectually sharp, and yet spiritually dead.

Now, imagine the thoughts that run around such a mind.

They move throughout the synapses of the brain at breakneck speed.

And yet, every one of those ideas, every one of those thoughts is simultaneously run through the filter of what we call sin.

And that sin ensures that the conclusions of the thoughts that the brain thinks,

particularly about God, are habitually wrong.

This is futility.

The size of the brain doesn't matter.

You know, at different eras, you have different guys you look to and say,

that guy's the genius of our age.

I don't know, the past 20 years, Stephen Hawking probably comes to mind for many of us,

one of the smartest guys around.

You take a Stephen Hawking-sized brain, as long as that brain,

however big and mighty and impressive it is,

as long as it is impeded by sin, as long as it is unenlightened by the Spirit,

then while, yes, it can process math and science and physics and chemistry

and all these things in amazing and oppressive ways,

at the same time, it will be habitually wrong

about the source and object of the very things it's studying.

This is futility.

Stephen Hawking, years ago, some of you remember Carl Sagan?

Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan, they could look out

and describe the properties of a sunset scientifically,

explain what's happening as the light is being refracted throughout the atmosphere and light.

They could explain it, and they'd be right.

They could explain the scientific properties of that.

However, as they explained it, because of their worldview that was apart from God,

they would strip that explanation of any glory given to the God who created the sunset in the first place.

They would give you a static, clinical definition that robbed God of all the glory

in creating all the colors that we see and all the things that tug at the heartstrings when we look at it.

Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan, the like, any who are dead in their hearts and minds,

who are not enlightened by the Holy Spirit, there is a futility.

They can look around all day long and spot the divine breadcrumbs of a creator

and yet never trace those breadcrumbs back to the divine baker,

never trace those things back to God.

Stephen Hawking took pride in this.

He once said, there is no God.

He said, no one created the universe, no one directs our fate.

I regard the brain as a computer.

It stops working when its components fail.

There's no heaven, there's no afterlife for broken down computers.

It's a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.

What was Stephen Hawking's problem?

Well, his problem wasn't that he hadn't found God.

Let me make that clear.

His problem was not that he hadn't found God.

Every telescope or microscope that he looked through,

every telescope or microscope that Stephen Hawking ever looked through in his life

showed him the fingerprints, the fingerprints of God.

For since the creation of the world, God's attributes are clearly seen.

Hawking's problem wasn't that he hadn't found God.

His problem was that he rejected the God that he found.

He refused to trace the breadcrumbs back to the divine baker.

Well, God's word says this, a fool has said in his heart there is no God.

And apart from the regeneration and subsequent renewal of our minds, we would all be such fools.

All right, with that established, let's look now.

Romans chapter 12, I'm going to read verse 1 and then we'll move verse 2.

It's only two verses long.

I'm going to look at verse 1, we'll talk about it, and then we'll look at verse 2 together.

Okay, verse 1 again says this.

I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,

that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice,

Holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

All right, so this is chapter 12.

Now, those of you who are familiar with the book of Romans know it works something like this.

If you were to open up the book of Romans, which is a wonderful, systematic presentation of the Gospel,

you ever want to get a real clear explanation for what the Gospel is from one end to the other,

a real systematic, clear, concise presentation, you can look to the book of Romans.

For the first 11 chapters of the book of Romans, Paul is giving all this wonderful theology and doctrine.

The first 11 chapters are doctrine after doctrine after doctrine.

He's teaching. He's teaching what you sometimes call the indicative.

He's educating those who are reading it.

But then at this verse, at this very verse, at the start of chapter 12, for the rest of the letter,

He moves from the indicative to the imperative.

He moves from just educating on what theology is to telling you and I what we should do about it.

So if you ever want to see Paul's thoughts on how we ought to live out the Christian life,

you can look to the last five chapters of the book of Romans.

Well, today's reading is the transition points, the very moment which he switches from one to the other.

And you see that in the word, therefore.

He goes 11 chapters, and the start of chapter 12, he says, therefore.

That's a sign and a hint to us that he's drawing conclusions from that which he had previously stated.

He's trying to take the knowledge that he's imparted and tell you and I what we're supposed to do with that knowledge.

And the very first thing he says, the very first thing he says, after unpacking doctrine after doctrine after doctrine,

the very first thing he says is this.

He says, you and I, we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice.

Now, let's stop there for a moment.

This is not a throwaway phrase.

Who wrote this passage?

Paul the Apostle Paul wrote this passage now Paul had grown up in Israel Paul was a jew of the Jews

He was a hebrew of the hebrews he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees Paul knew something about the

culture in which he grew up in and so when Paul this robust educated jew uses the word sacrifice

it is not a throwaway word it is a word that is filled with the historical meaning and context

of growing up in a system a worship structure in which sacrifices were centered when Paul talks

about sacrifices, he's coming out of a culture in which sacrifices were routinely done in

order to satisfy the wrath of God. People for years and centuries had been sacrificing

goats and sheep. Now, because a goat died on a hill somewhere far, far away, does that

save any of us? No, it didn't save anyone then. But when a lamb was slaughtered, even

centuries before Christ's time, when a lamb was slaughtered, it looked forward to Christ.

When a lamb was slaughtered, that sacrifice in and of itself couldn't save anybody, but

it pointed forward to the death of one who could every animal ever sacrificed ultimately pointed

forward to Jesus Christ with that said in the New Testament economy we no longer have to slaughter

animals we no longer have this kind of sacrifices however that doesn't mean that the concept of

sacrifice has gone away the concept of sacrifice remains and we see this in the very first verse

and chapter 12. Sacrifices are still part of a believer's worship to God. They no longer involve

lambs and goats and bulls and sheep and doves and pigeons and the like, but they still exist. We are

still called to sacrifice. And we see that in verse 1. We see, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the

mercy of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which

is your reasonable service. Sacrifices are still part of our worship. That has not changed in the

least. But what has changed is the nature of the sacrifice. And that's what Paul draws our

attention to. He says, you and I are now the sacrifice. Now, in what way? Well, he specifically

says here, we represent our bodies as a living sacrifice. Now, what does that mean? Well, we're

all accustomed to aspects of sacrifice that are done when we give to God. We take that which is

precious to us, we give it to God, and we feel as if we sacrifice something of ourselves to God and

is the kingdom. So we're accustomed to giving or tithing or what have you and saying there is a

sacrifice. That's not what this verse is talking about. It's good and important to do that and to

give to God and so forth. That's not the sacrifice that's being referred to here. What's being

referred to is a living sacrifice. What does that mean? What that means is that you and I as

believers who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who are now the temple of God, we're supposed to act

accordingly. If the Spirit of God dwells within us, don't you think that should affect everything

that our bodies are engaged in if our body is the temple of God. The things you write, the things

you type, the things you look at, the things you hear, the things you say, all this is a manifestation

of the body, of working out the faith that has been worked within you. And all this is to be

done regularly and consistently with God's glory and view. You are not your own. I hope that's not

a shock to anyone here. We were made for the glory of someone greater than ourselves. Someone tell me,

what is the chief end of man? To glorify God and join forever. The chief end of man, this is the

very first in the Catechism. Number one, you exist, I exist, we exist for the glory of the one who

made us. Created beings, creation, flowers, trees, forests, all this stuff, everything that has been

made in the created realm exists for one primary purpose, the glory of the one that created them.

This is the same for you and I. Because of this, a sacrifice we give to God is we watch what our

eyes are attentive to. We watch what we listen to. We think about the things we say. We think

about the effort we exert. You only have so many hours in a day and so much energy to use.

Use it well. Use it in ways that glorify God and aid others. And you have choices to make along

these lines. You can dedicate your body to all manner of things that are foul. Don't. Paul says

one of the most reasonable things you can possibly do, if God saved you by

sending that which was most precious to himself, his own son, to die for you,

then one of the most reasonable responses you could ever have is to live accordingly.

To give back. To say, God, you purchased me at the

greatest price anything could ever be purchased. And because of that, it's reasonable

for me to make some attempt to be holy, to be godly.

Some attempt not to listen to the things I've been listening to, to watch the things I've been watching, to say the things I've been saying,

to dial back the profanity which I may have used in times past,

to watch the things that I engage in.

Why? Because I love the God who has redeemed me.

Now, when the angels, when they gather around the water cooler in heaven,

I don't know how this works, but theoretically,

when the angels gather around and when they talk about you,

because you and I are in the purview of the angels,

when they do, what do they say? What do they see?

What kind of sacrifices are we making?

What kind of ways are we attempting,

not only to give to God through tithes and offerings and the like,

but attempting to give them our self and our resources and our energy

and attempting to make ourselves more holy.

What would someone outside of ourselves, external to our situations,

looking at our choices say if they could see the whole lot of them?

Are we living sacrificially?

I'll tell you this much.

If your Christian walk is bereft of any real sacrifice,

and again, I'm not just talking about finances here.

If your Christian walk is bereft of any real sacrifice,

and you withhold from him time to spend in the Word,

time to come attend worship or do Wednesday nights

or community groups or whatever, devotional time.

If your Christian walk is bereft

or you're willing to even sacrifice your time

to hang out with God and his people

or to spend time in devotions and prayer and the like,

you're probably not holding up your end of the deal

in Romans chapter 12, verse 1.

If you're being introspective,

are you and I, are we living sacrificially?

Well, Paul knew that that was a problem

for many in the early church.

He knew it was a problem for people in any church.

See, the easiest part of the faith

is just nodding your head to it,

saying, do you believe in Jesus? Oh, I believe in Jesus. Okay. That's the easy part. The profession,

the things we say are comparatively straightforward and simple. What's hard is living as such. What's

hard is living as such. So Paul says in verse one, he says, look, I beseech you. That's like high

King James sort of language to say, look, I'm begging you, Dear heavens, I've taught you for

11 chapters how much God loves you. And now I'm going to ask you, beseech you, beg of you,

plead to you, please respond to this. Please, for the love of all that's good and right and holy in

the universe, respond to this. I beseech you, he says. I plead with you in verse 1. By the mercies

of God, do this. Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable God. This is your

reasonable service. All right, let's move on to verse 2 of today's reading. Verse 2. And, so this

is related there's a relationship between part two and part one verse two and verse one and do

not be conformed to this world do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing

of your mind that you may prove what's good and acceptable and the perfect will of God all right

when we started out this morning we lingered for a bit on the inabilities and the futility of the

unsaved mind. We said that those who are not indwelt by the Spirit cannot of their own volition

comprehend all the things of God. They might think they can, but they cannot. They cannot comprehend

all the things of God. They are consigned instead to futile and darkened thoughts. This is the state

of the unregenerate individual. But what about us? What about you and I who are believers, who are

Christians? What advantages do we have in our intellect because of being Christian, because of

changed. What advantage do we have as those who've been born again? Being born again is not just you

nodding your head and saying, oh, I believe, and I'm going to write my name on the back of the Bible

and declare I'm born again as if it was a decision I made. Being born again is not a function of a

decision that you made. Being born again is a function of a decision that God made and solidified

through sending a Spirit to indwell you, to change your heart, to turn your heart of stone to a heart

of flesh and after that happened which we call regeneration after he made you alive who was once

dead after he gave you a spiritual pulse who was previously flat lying after that happens

Westminster confession says after that occurs we are enabled and persuaded to embrace Christ

that we had previously rejected this is regeneration this is orthodox teaching with

regards to what being born again is now this act as we've said in the past is an act of God's

volition why does he do it for who does he do it that's up to him that's above our pay grade but

we know that he doesn't you know that it's his choice his will his action no one can come to me

unless my father draws him with that said once we've been drawn once our hearts are different

and changed and we're enabled and persuaded to see and love and apprehend a God that we previously

didn't or couldn't or wouldn't in verse 2 Paul says all right if that's you today if you're one

of those that are regenerate son daughter of God if that's you then you now have a responsibility

you actually have several, but here's one of them, he says in verse 2.

He says, if you are different, if you have been set apart by God

through his own volition, called out of the world,

if you've been given this new nature that's different

than the nature in which you came into the world,

if you are now holy and different and righteous in the eyes of God,

then verse 2 says stop, stop being conformed to the world.

You can't have both.

So many of even us think that we can, or at least we act as if we can.

We can have the things of the world and have the things of God.

We can love God and yet not offend anybody in the world around us.

Well, verse 2 says it doesn't work that way.

It says you've just got to stop.

Stop being conformed and remade in the image of that which is at enmity with your God.

If the world is at enmity with God, then the more you become like the world,

what does that say about your relationship with God himself?

In verse 2, Paul says stop. Just stop.

Stop being conformed to this world, but instead, he offers a substitute.

He says, stop being more worldly.

Stop latching on to the precepts, the ideas, and the concepts of the world around you

and making them your own.

And when churches do that, oh my goodness, that's bad.

We are not called to conform to the wills and wants of the world around us.

Out of a zeal, even out of a great zeal to be relevant to this world.

Dear heavens, we dare not, dare not forget who we are.

We are the ambassadors of God called to be holy and righteous in the eyes of the world.

Let them adjust to us.

Not the other way around. Well, here it says, not be conformed to this world, but rather be

transformed, transformed. And you know how? You know how we're transformed? Well, he gives us

the answer. He says, it starts with the renewing of our minds. It starts with the renewing of our

minds. You know, back in college, I say that as one who can't believe it's been that long,

but back in college, I was remembering, you know, freshman orientation. I don't know. You probably

remember going through something similar. You go off to college and there's freshman orientation,

freshman mix or whatever it is. Well, I remember they rolled out some professors to tell you things

that you weren't paying too much attention to. Well, there was one thing I did pay attention to.

There was one thing that I remember hearing that resonated with me at that time. It was a professor

who said, look, you students who are gathered here today, know this. Know this about the institution

in which you have come. You have come here to learn how to think and not necessarily what to

think. You have come here to learn the tools for how to perceive the world around you, how to

apprehend reality. You are here at college, as is the case even in all forms of secondary and

education-like. You're here to learn how to think. Now, what to think is relevant somewhere down the

line, but colleges are primarily geared to teach you, to give you the tools and the intellect to

apprehend reality, not necessarily to indoctrinate you by telling you what that reality is. I love

that the professor, at least 20 some odd years ago, thought that this is the way that it would

work, that the institution would tell us how to think and not necessarily what to think. It's a

good sentiment. It's not necessarily the way it is. It's not the way it is now, and it probably

has never been. Now, what's the difference, again, between being taught how to think and what to

think? Well, being taught how to think suggests developing academic skills. It suggests that this

learning institution exists to equip and exercise the students' minds. However, being taught what

to think suggests indoctrination, suggests we're not here so much to teach you how to process

reality, we're just here to tell you what that reality is, and we expect you to act accordingly.

Now, the whole world is bent, especially in our age and especially in recent years. The whole world

around us seems bent on either indoctrinating or conforming us to wills and wants and whims that

may or may not be godly, that may or may not be right. You know, whether it's the academia or the

media or the guy down the street, everybody's a disciple of some sort of worldview. Everyone's a

disciples some sort of worldview, and generally speaking, those individuals want to compel or

enforce that worldview upon you. Our whole world right now, and certainly the culture, is a giant

conformance factory. You doubt that, try going to the public square and saying something that

does not conform to the world's views on gender, or family, or sexuality, or what have you. Now,

none of this is new. I'm not going to make this a topical sermon because I don't have to. None of

this is new. It's not necessarily something that just came along here in the past few years. It's

always been the case. Apostle Paul, his warning to the people in first century Rome was basically

the same. He says the world has, will have, will always have views that run contrary to those of

God. No matter what they are, what the subject is, the topic is, the world will always have views

that are different from that of God. This is not new. Now, when those views should be introduced

to you, when those views should be even compelled upon you at the point of persecution, don't accept

them. Don't believe them. Don't believe that which is manifestly antithetically in contrast with that

which the Word of God says. Trust instead in that which is infallible and inerrant and comes from

the very hand of God. This is what Paul's saying. He says, don't be conformed to the world around

you, but be transformed by renewing your mind, by going to an inerrant source, by going to a source

that is without fault, by going to a source that is honest and true and righteous and virtuous in

all these things and lingering in your thoughts and minds on what it says. Transformation is

different than confirmation. Confirmation, to be conformed, is to basically become more like the

culture in which you've been placed. But transformation speaks to becoming something

altogether new and different, much like regeneration. You know, those of you who have

teenagers, who wants their teenager to conform to the view of other teenagers? I know I don't.

That's not my desire. Confirmation is, generally speaking, a bad thing, particularly when you

consider all the things that people are conforming to. On the other hand, transformation here in verse

two, it's generally a positive thing. The picture that's most obvious to all of us is that of the

butterfly. You know, the butterfly at one point is not a butterfly. It's a caterpillar, something

less than pleasant, can't fly at all. But in time, its nature is changed into something far more

beautiful and something that's capable of ascending to heights that it never could before reach.

This is what Paul says that the Word of God can do in our hearts and minds. It can change us from

that which was wicked and sinful and sodded, from that which is of no particular use to

God, to something that is good and righteous and virtuous. Be transformed by the renewing

of your mind that you may prove what is good and acceptable, the perfect will of God. Renewing

your mind. This is the obligation he gives us at the very start of chapter 12. Renewing

your mind. As a man thinks, so he is. The thoughts you think and the subject you focus

upon and that which you meditate upon is important. And there needs to be some attention given

to that which you allow to affect your mind and your thoughts.

Good golly, if you're constantly reading or watching or listening

to those voices that are not especially good or righteous or holy,

what do you think is going to be the impact upon you?

You know, we said this, I think, a few sermons ago.

We made this point.

If you're sitting in a group, you know, it's an evening at a dinner party or something,

and someone yawns, what is the effect?

The effect is, before you know it, you yawn, someone else yawns.

There's an effect that even someone yawning can have.

Dear heavens, if you and I can be affected by merely someone yawning in our presence,

what do you think will happen if they're constantly saying things that are anti-God in our presence?

It can't help but have some level of effect upon us.

So, it's incumbent upon you and I to be careful about what voices we listen to,

or at least what sources we allow to affect and inform us.

And all the more for our kids, all the more for our children, because we are the caretakers.

And we are responsible for the voices that affect and inform the thoughts

that go through the minds of our own, our loved ones, our children.

Whatever the case, we are supposed to be introspective about being transformed.

This morning, as I look to wrap up here, two questions for you.

The first question is this.

Transformation sounds pretty good.

I'd rather be the butterfly than the caterpillar.

That sounds pretty nice.

I assume that you think so as well.

Well, if that's true, then my question is,

if you really want to lead a transformed life, what do you need?

Well, verse 2 says you need to have a transformed mind.

If you want to lead a transformed life,

if you would rather be the butterfly than the caterpillar in the time yet to come,

if you want to leave a life that puts behind the sins that you previously engaged in,

the things that you knew you shouldn't do and you don't want to do in the future,

if you want to be better tomorrow than you are today,

you want to be transformed in your life,

then you need to have a transformed mind.

There is a one-to-one relationship between the two.

You have got to work on transforming your mind.

That primarily involves asking what sources affect it.

Garbage in, garbage out.

You expect something good and holy and righteous

to come out of your actions and your choices

and your life in the years yet to come,

then there has to be good, holy, righteous inputs

instructing you, compelling you to live accordingly.

So I guess my real question, or my second question, is this.

How? How are you going to go about it?

Not just how is some other Christian going to go about it,

or how does Paul say you should go about it,

how are you going to go about it?

If that's something you actually want, if you want to be different tomorrow than you

were today, you want to be this transformed individual, you want to be holy and righteous

and wise and all these things, how are you going to do it?

Well, again, the first thing you have to do is take ownership.

Take ownership of your faith.

I tell you, it doesn't matter how much Grandpa read the Bible.

It matters how much you read the Bible.

It doesn't matter how much your spouse, how much time your spouse spends in prayer or

the Word.

I mean, these are good things.

I hope they do.

But the issue for you is how much time you spend in these things.

Children, teenagers. The question is not how holy your parents are, how much time they spend in

Scripture. The question is how much time are you going to spend in it? How much time are you going

to linger in God's word? You have to take ownership of this. Take ownership of this. Young people,

Old people, we all need to renew our minds and it won't come from things of the world. It's not

going to come from Oprah or Blippi or any number of other things. It comes from a repeated, a

repeated direct encounter with God's own word. Now, just as again, as a final thought here, if you're

not accustomed to that, if this sounds good, but you just really don't know where to start,

this is a big and formidable book. You really just don't know where to go. You've tried it

before and it was difficult. Let me suggest this to you. If you've been kind of on the outside

looking in and you do want to be transformed, you do want to renew your mind, you hear this word,

you feel compelled to do something about it, let me encourage you, open up the book, find one of

the easiest books in all of Scripture, the book of Proverbs. The book of Proverbs teaches wisdom

one verse at a time. Start there. One verse at a time. But here's the thing, whether it's one verse

to one chapter from Proverbs or Romans or anywhere, you've got to be consistent. Whether it's one

verse every day, whether it's one chapter or more, there has got to be consistency. Nothing is more

important in religious practice than having good habits. This morning, again, I hope you're

responsive to Paul's admonition to live, to live as sacrifices. And the first thing you can

sacrifice is some of your time to renew your minds in Scripture. Paul and your elders here in the

church would beseech you to do this. Pick up the book of Proverbs, Romans, Genesis, what have you.

Grow in your faith one verse at a time. Whatever you do, be consistent. Keep at it. Start this week

if need be. Let's pray.