This will be Part 1 in a series on "Re-booting your Brain". Today I will explain what I mean and subsequent topics will talk about how to do it.

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I know that the topic of this weeks blog is pretty strange. So I guess I probably should expound on why I'm choosing it as a topic name.

I get on a lot of Christian internet forums and talk to a lot of people and I'm beginning to see a rather alarming trend among believers. Now when I mention believers, I'm talking about those that would consider themselves "born again" Christ followers. Not just "Christian" by name, but those that would normally do what they can to follow Christ to the best of their ability.

Many of these people, back when I first got saved over 12 years ago, were the same people who would stand on the rooftops and proclaim that we were to do all that we could to live a life pleasing to God.

However, more and more I see these same people balking at the idea of living such a life now. Certain things that they may have once stood for they are now against and things they once stood against they are now for. I know many would read that sentence and rejoice that these once "legalists" are now seeing the light and are now being able to experience life under the banner of "freedom in Christ".

For those that really know me, I believe they ALL would tell you who are reading that I am as far away from a legalist that you can get. I don't get caught up on what a person wears to church, or what version of the Bible they read. I don't care about whether someone likes contemporary music versus hymns and it doesn't bother me at all whether a person dresses up for halloween or not. And there is a host of other things that the "liberals" and "conservatives" argue about over and over that I feel is a waste of time. In fact, there is so much time wasted over arguing WHO is a "liberal" and WHO is a "conservative" within their own circles that it's almost impossible to decipher who is what anymore. See, I've already wasted 5 minutes of my life trying to write about them and now I'm even confused about it.

What was I talking about again? Oh yeah, let me continue.

So we get caught up arguing over "legalism", "freedom" and everything in between and I think we maybe have let something slip through the cracks.

I think the main issue is "De-sensitization". If you can take off your "liberal" or "conservative" hat for a few minutes, see if you can follow me on this without it ending up under either one of those labels.

Sex is everywhere at all times and has bombarded us in every way. From TV to the internet to the magazine racks in the grocery store. Children are exposed to violence at such an early age from either TV or video games. TV commercials will tell us that the only way you can have a good time is if you are hanging out in bars and drinking all the time. Porn is just something "guys do" right?

When you see this stuff over and over and over again, you begin to not be bothered by it. It's doesn't shock you anymore. It doesn't seem like a big deal.

I've been fairly open with the fact that through much of my life I had a porn problem (among many other problems). It is one that followed me for years. Then it is one that haunted me for years. Prior to becoming a Christian of course, it wasn't a big deal in our society. But after, God began to show me what a big deal it was and that started a very low period of my life. Falling into the sin, asking for forgiveness and then falling again. Because ultimately it came down to the fact that no matter how far I would distance myself from porn, I still had those images in my head. They still replayed over and over and that would lead me into sin again. It affected every aspect of my life.

But I have noticed something. Since I went all out to beat this sin and got accountability partners, internet filters and reporting and finally have some space between the sin and me, I seem to notice that the things that didn't bother at one time in my life, seem to bother me more and more now. It's like God is allowing me to "Reboot my Brain" to see things in a light that I really hadn't seen before.

Actually, God has a better way of explaining it than I do:

Romans 12:2 - Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

What I'm calling a "brain reboot" is actually God fulfilling a promise to me. When I CHOOSE to stop doing what society expects of me and start doing what GOD expects of me, my mind begins to be renewed and transformed. We are then able to see what God's will is for our lives. And as we can see from this verse, His will is good and pleasing and perfect.

Wanting to see things the way God does and living in a way that pleases God isn't being "legalistic". It isn't something that neatly fits under a label like "liberalism" or "conservatism". It's just called being a Christian. The word "Christian" simply means "Christ like". I know it gets thrown around by people all the time (in fact before I became one I used to do it too). But being labeled a Christian doesn't make you one. It's how you live that is the determination.

So make the choice to Re-boot your Brain. And in so doing, watch how God will open your eyes and transform your mind.  You will then be able to exclaim, as the man that Jesus healed who was blind all his life, "I was blind, but now I see".

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Next week in Part 2, we will discuss some steps you can take to allow God to get the "Re-boot" process going.