Being transformed
This week is on Romans 12:2:
The Apostle Paul is writing these verses as part of a lesson about self sacrifice and humility. Here he's pointing out the selfishness of how society works compared to the selflessness of the Christian life. And he gives us some hints on how to get there.
He starts off by saying not to conform to the pattern of this world. What pattern does the world give to us? On the surface, society changes every year, but deep down people have always been the same in their hearts. Society tells us to live for ourselves, to advance our cause and our family's cause and our country's cause against the rest of the world. It tells us that life is for us, and this world is all we've got.
The pattern we have in the West is to go to school, lose your virginity at prom, then go to college, then when you're getting a bit old to keep sleeping around you get married, then have a kid, then get bored with your spouse and divorce them, jump between jobs every two years, then retire at age 65 and take a bunch of vacations before your one kid puts you in a nursing home so she can focus on following the pattern. But that is at such odds with how God asks us to live. How can someone sleep around when God tells them to marry if they can't keep from having a romantic partner or to stay single otherwise? How can people divorce when God says to not divorce except if your spouse has already been unfaithful? How can we jump from job to job when we're asked to faithfully serve those we work for and be a good witness? And how does living purely for yourself after age 65 fit with God's plea for us to love one another and serve each other?
We claim to follow God, but what pattern are we using to build our lives? Is it God's pattern or the world's? Paul doesn't tell us to just flip through the Bible for the right pattern, however. If we did, we could just go back to the law and follow all of the stuff in Leviticus. No more cotton polyester blends for shirts. No more bacon cheeseburgers. We could be slave-owning polygamists though. But if we're not supposed to just follow the Bible, what is the pattern we're supposed to build our lives with?
Paul tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. It relates to where he's talking about the fruit of the Holy Spirit. As we pray and spend time learning who God is, the Holy Spirit has more access to our lives. Our minds are transformed and we begin to show some of the character traits that God is known for: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We become fruity people! It's humbling to look at your life's decisions and reactions to circumstances and ask yourself whether you would have done the same if you had full measures of those traits.
Paul says that when our minds are transformed, we are able to test and approve what God's will is. That seems crazy! Most people just ask their friends, or the most spiritual person they know, or their pastor. Or maybe they read some Christian lifestyle book or Christian websites and blogs they were sent to by Pastor Google. But Paul says we are able to do it ourselves! That's mind-blowing when you think about it.
And yet we know in our hearts that it's true. As you become a Christian for awhile, don't you sometimes just know when something is God's will and the right thing to do? It becomes more natural to love people, and to be loved, and to think less of ourselves and more of those whose lives intertwine with ours. There's a satisfaction that comes from what Paul describes as God's good, pleasing, and perfect will.
This one verse is something we can look at and examine our lives with. What are we doing? Are we open to being transformed and losing a bit of ourselves to be a bit greater? Or are we afraid of being different, or not having that career or that position of power or that slightly sexier someone on the other side of the fence? Are we following the right pattern? Turn yourself over to God and allow him to transform you.
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.
The Apostle Paul is writing these verses as part of a lesson about self sacrifice and humility. Here he's pointing out the selfishness of how society works compared to the selflessness of the Christian life. And he gives us some hints on how to get there.
He starts off by saying not to conform to the pattern of this world. What pattern does the world give to us? On the surface, society changes every year, but deep down people have always been the same in their hearts. Society tells us to live for ourselves, to advance our cause and our family's cause and our country's cause against the rest of the world. It tells us that life is for us, and this world is all we've got.
The pattern we have in the West is to go to school, lose your virginity at prom, then go to college, then when you're getting a bit old to keep sleeping around you get married, then have a kid, then get bored with your spouse and divorce them, jump between jobs every two years, then retire at age 65 and take a bunch of vacations before your one kid puts you in a nursing home so she can focus on following the pattern. But that is at such odds with how God asks us to live. How can someone sleep around when God tells them to marry if they can't keep from having a romantic partner or to stay single otherwise? How can people divorce when God says to not divorce except if your spouse has already been unfaithful? How can we jump from job to job when we're asked to faithfully serve those we work for and be a good witness? And how does living purely for yourself after age 65 fit with God's plea for us to love one another and serve each other?
We claim to follow God, but what pattern are we using to build our lives? Is it God's pattern or the world's? Paul doesn't tell us to just flip through the Bible for the right pattern, however. If we did, we could just go back to the law and follow all of the stuff in Leviticus. No more cotton polyester blends for shirts. No more bacon cheeseburgers. We could be slave-owning polygamists though. But if we're not supposed to just follow the Bible, what is the pattern we're supposed to build our lives with?
Paul tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. It relates to where he's talking about the fruit of the Holy Spirit. As we pray and spend time learning who God is, the Holy Spirit has more access to our lives. Our minds are transformed and we begin to show some of the character traits that God is known for: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We become fruity people! It's humbling to look at your life's decisions and reactions to circumstances and ask yourself whether you would have done the same if you had full measures of those traits.
Paul says that when our minds are transformed, we are able to test and approve what God's will is. That seems crazy! Most people just ask their friends, or the most spiritual person they know, or their pastor. Or maybe they read some Christian lifestyle book or Christian websites and blogs they were sent to by Pastor Google. But Paul says we are able to do it ourselves! That's mind-blowing when you think about it.
And yet we know in our hearts that it's true. As you become a Christian for awhile, don't you sometimes just know when something is God's will and the right thing to do? It becomes more natural to love people, and to be loved, and to think less of ourselves and more of those whose lives intertwine with ours. There's a satisfaction that comes from what Paul describes as God's good, pleasing, and perfect will.
This one verse is something we can look at and examine our lives with. What are we doing? Are we open to being transformed and losing a bit of ourselves to be a bit greater? Or are we afraid of being different, or not having that career or that position of power or that slightly sexier someone on the other side of the fence? Are we following the right pattern? Turn yourself over to God and allow him to transform you.
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