Offering All Your Mind to God

By Bill Natalzia, NE Regional Director, Celebrate Recovery

“You’ve already put in your time in that God-ignorant way of life, partying night after night, a drunken and profligate life. Now it’s time to be done with it for good. Of course, your old friends don’t understand why you don’t join in with the old gang anymore. But you don’t have to give an account to them. They’re the ones who will be called on the carpet — and before God” (1 Peter 4:3-5 The Message).

This verse tells us that we must be finished with our old way of life for good. Drunkenness comes in many ways. Not the least of this is the recreational use of marijuana. Recreational marijuana is all the rage nowadays. One state after another is passing laws that accept this behavior. As Christ-followers we know different, and to follow the beat of this drummer is what the apostle Paul refers to in Romans 12 as “conforming to this world.” He goes on to write that we are transformed in Christ by the renewing of our mind. Here is the catch — you cannot renew a mind clouded by recreational marijuana. This is how we are to offer ourselves to the Lord:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:1-2 (ESV)

So this leaves me with the understanding that God wants all of our being in an undefiled way. When we are high or drunk on recreational marijuana, we cannot honor and love God with all of our mind. If our mind is altered, it cannot be dedicated, as God asks us to be: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength” (Mark 12:30 NLT). 

Recreational marijuana creates a gateway to drunkenness and other highly addictive substances. This can distort our thinking and rob God of our perfect worship.