January 6, 2023 BE TRANSFORMED
Romans 12:1-2 “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
We hear a lot about self-improvement; we should pay attention to our state of being; eating heathy, physical exercise, and continuing to learn, and etc. However, let us not overlook the transformation work that God does in us. As I often say, God is not out to make us better or refurbish us, but to make us new creations. If our focus is on ‘trying to do better,’ and if we rely on self-effort, we will experience frustration in our spiritual life. We must live according to the truth that God has revealed, not according to our own understanding and our own preferences. The truth is that Jesus came to redeem us and to transfer us from the kingdom of darkness into His marvelous light where we live as sons and daughters of God. He has transformed us, made us new with new hearts and new minds and new spirits, and has given us the Holy Spirit to empower us to live according to the ways of God. God has done all of that; yet there is a part for us to be about; we must by faith believe that we are who He says we are and that He gives us the power to live this new life. Not only are we to believe that God has done these things, we must embrace them and put them into action. In the passage above, we find a warning to believers; even though we have been made new, it is possible for us to be conformed back to the world. For that reason, we must be continually being renewed in our minds; we must think on the things of God and always be pursuing what God has for us. The life of a believer is a life of being pro-active in the things of God. There is a great opportunity for us; we can now present our bodies, our life, as a ‘living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God.’ We no longer have to live a sub-standard life where we experience frustrations, failures, bad attitudes, boredom, discouragement, doubt, fear, or whatever. The life we live day by day can be a living testimony of how God has transformed us; we can be expressions of the character of God. Paul began this passage by saying “I urge you.” Let us be reminded that God Himself is urging us to present ourselves as a living and holy sacrifice to Him.
1 Peter 1:15-16 “But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”
Matthew 5:16 “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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