“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God — this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform 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.”
Romans 12:1-2 are two of my combined favorite verses. I have a few favorites, but have always loved these…especially verse 2. Paul just explained in great detail in Romans, man’s plague of sin and how we are under the condemnation of God. He then moved into justification through faith in Christ. He discussed the redemption we have because of Christ. Then, in Chapter 12, Paul says because of all that Jesus did for me (or in view of His mercy) or kept from me like condemnation, that I should give my entire self to Him.
I need to give the areas of my mind and life in a holy manner: not halfhearted and not just part of myself while the other part I keep a secret.
When I give all the areas of my life to Him, I am both worshiping God and serving Him. When I serve God in this manner, I worship Him with my daily life. “Do not conform 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.”
So how do we do this? How do we not conform to the world? Hebrews 12:1-2 says to throw off those things that hinder us. The sins that entangle us.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”
Paul says to not let the world mold us because the world is unholy. Rather, we must be changed in our minds. But how do we do this? God changes us through the Holy Spirit when we draw near to Him (James 4). We must immerse ourselves in God’s Word. We must have His thoughts. We have God’s thoughts by putting them in our mind…not the thoughts of the world.
Good music, good reading, good whatever…but it must absolutely be guided by the Word of God. As we are transformed and have His perspective, then we can have a better understanding of His perfect will. I cannot overstate how God’s Word has gotten us through this awful trial with Jeremy. God’s Word and God’s people have anchored us. It is completely His doing. If we don’t read His Word, then we are left to wordly nonsense and the lies of Satan. Those words are hopeless and defeating. Jeremy had a lie worm its way into his young, Christian walk and he felt defeated.
Jeremy needed more of God’s thoughts and the thoughts of mature believers ingrained into his heart and mind. One of the transforming thoughts of God is that if we are “in Christ”, we are not condemned and are forgiven.
Failure is never final with Christ.
Love Sees You 