Transformed and Renewed

Good Morning,

Romans 12:2 (NIV)
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.
Romans 12:2 (NLT)
Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Yesterday we discussed the fact that we, you and I the children of God, can...and will!...overcome the world and the evil in it. (I added the "and will" because I believe it is more than possible to live out the verses we read yesterday and we must always keep our attitude like that of Jesus Christ, be positive about the things of God!) Today, we read a verse that helps us to begin the overcoming and defeat of evil we face each day in this world. What we do today can and will alter our lives. What we do every day can and does alter our lives.

Paul wrote to the Romans that they should not conform to, copy the behavior of, "this world," that is...the world that existed at that point in history. Things were pretty sticky back then, to say the least! However, what God had to say then to those ancient peoples rings just as true today, over 2,000 years later, in "this world," that is...the world in which we live today. Things are still pretty sticky and perhaps even worse than what folks faced back then with the advent of the Internet, computers, television, and on, and on, and on. I say that because it's evident that the evil which persists in the world today can be almost instantaneously transmitted all over the planet. That, my friends, makes it even more difficult for us to do as we read and to resist conforming to and copying the behaviors we see all around us.

God, however, gives us the method in which we can be more successful than we may have been in resisting the world and keeping ourselves from conforming to it. That method is to "transform" our minds out of and away from what we see and hear and experience in our every day interactions with the world. The New Living Translation says, "But let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think." I kind of like the way that explains the process better than other translations because it describes and makes clear that this transforming is of God and that it must be with God's help that we can be successful. On our own, I'm afraid, we will probably fail. It is surely most difficult to fight against the evil in this world which comes at us from every angle and almost every minute of every day. The trick here, though, is that we must LET God help us in the transformation of our minds that is needed in most of us. We must pray and give Him permission to do His work in us and allow the Holy Spirit to be in us to bring about this transformation. You see, God is a polite and gentle God. He won't force Himself on any of us and He won't fill us with His Holy Spirit against our wills. We, each of us as individuals and all of us as His Church, must ask Him to make this transformation, this changing, of our minds take place.

Will it be an easy, one step process? No. Plainly and simply, the answer is no, it will not be a simple or easy process for the transformation and renewing of our minds. However, there is a huge upside when we make the concerted effort on our own part and ask God to come to us and do His part: "Then you will be able to test and approve (you will learn to know) what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will." Isn't that what all of us want? To really know and understand what God's will is for each of us? Don't we want to be active in bringing about God's will in our time on this earth?

Transformed and renewed. I will confess to you that's exactly what I want in my mind and life. Without it, I simply won't know...nor will I accomplish...God's will.

Love, peace, and blessings,

David