"But Be Transformed by the Renewing of Your Mind!”

“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)

You will notice a change in Paul’s writings from Chapters 1-11, where Paul very precisely shows the difference between Law and Grace and builds a comprehensive argument for God’s Righteousness being imparted on the basis of faith, not works. In Chapters 12-16, Paul changes his tone a bit, and instead of presenting an airtight case of God’s grace and its saving power, he switches to very practical teachings about how the believer is now to live their lives to bring honor and glory to the one who saved them by His grace.

You can see from the very first verse of this Chapter that Paul is showing the practical conclusion for being saved by Grace. 12:1-2 “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.”  Paul then uses the next four chapters of Romans to explain God's will for every New Covenant believer.

Have you ever said, I wish I knew the will of God for me in this situation? I bet you have; I know I have. Many times throughout my life, I’ve struggled to know the will of God. I think I was looking for the will of God in some of the minor things in my life. Does God want me to buy this house, or that car, or take this trip, or give to that homeless person? I believe every believer can know the will of God. We can know what God wants from us by knowing His Word. The Bible tells us everything we need to know about doing God's will. Just read through these next four chapters of Romans with me, and you’ll see what it is that God expects from each of us. Then we will know whether we’re buying a car or a house, giving to this organization, or taking that trip, as long as we’re living a life that brings honor and glory to our Savior. Then we can know His will for our lives.

Paul starts his journey of God’s Will in verse 2, where Paul states, “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.” There are a couple of words in this verse that we need to look at a bit more closely. First, we are told not to be “conformed to this world,” which is a command from Paul, meaning we are NOT to “assume a similar outward form (expression) by following the same pattern (model or mold) as this world.” As believers, we need to discern the pattern of this world and know that it is not for us. We need to remember that this world is not our home; we are just passing through, and we don’t want to let it trick us into following its patterns.

Then Paul says that we are to be “transformed”, another command, that we are to “change form in keeping with inner reality” (our English word "metamorphosis" comes from this Greek word). You see, our reality is spiritual, it’s “inner,” not of this world, which is “outer”. Paul then tells us that it is our “minds” that need to be transformed. Remember what repentance means: it is the changing of our minds, it’s a reboot, if you will. You know, when you reboot your computer, you clean out all the old junk that’s just hanging around and reload or renew it with what is supposed to be there. It’s amazing how our spiritual minds work the same. We need to let the Holy Spirit transform or renew our minds with the things that God wants there; it really works.

We need to allow the Spirit of God to start controlling our minds and to put this world out of focus. We are NOT to allow this world to control our minds any longer. After the first 11 Chapters, Paul tells all believers, Jews and Gentiles, that we are to put off the old way of thinking and put on the new way of thinking; we are to have our minds renewed.

Why are we to stop following this world’s example and renew our minds? Paul says the reason is, “ that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Sounds pretty simple when Paul says it that way, doesn’t it? Looking back on my life when I’ve been confused about the will of God, I find that many times I've gotten all wrapped up in the concerns and things of this world. When I slowed down my mind and let it be transformed and renewed by God’s Word and the Holy Spirit, I could be at peace with God and know God’s will.

The rest of Chapter 12 is just as wonderful as these first 2 verses. Please take a few minutes to read the rest of this chapter. Paul says in verse 9, “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.”, and in verse 18, “If possible, so far as it depends on you be at peace with all men”, then he concludes this Chapter with verse 21, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with Good.”. You see, if we conform ourselves to this world, we will be overcome by evil; but if we allow ourselves to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, we can overcome evil with good and know the Will of God.

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"