Fix It So You Can Flourish: Transformed By Renewing Your Mind

    Our passage to read and think on throughout this week, as the Lord wills, is Romans 12:1-2:

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." (NKJV)

    Following in Jesus' footsteps (1 Peter 2:21, 1 John 2:6) we learn to humbly submit to God, sacrifice our wants and desires (Matthew 16:24), and obey His instructions and commands so that we can be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:13-16) and be pure just as He is pure (1 John 3:3). We will determine to make good choices in our attitudes, our words, and our actions so that others will know that we belong to God!

    When I was younger my Dad explained Romans 12:2 like this: Pour Jello into a mould, after it sets, you turn it out and you have a lump of Jello that looks exactly like the mould. The Jello conformed to the mould it was in! We conform to the world when we let it shape us, which will leave us looking just like the world!

    God wants us to be transformed (undergo a change in character). How do we do this? "...by the renewing of your mind." Fill up your heart and mind with God's word motivates us to try harder each day to make good choices in our speech, our attitudes, our actions. Read and think on Ephesians 4:17-32 as it echoes these thoughts. 

    If we put in the self-sacrificing effort, God will provide the transforming renewal!

    Determining to do things God's way will take faith and trust on our part, but it's well-worth our every effort because we will soon prove to ourselves - and to others - that His will is "good and acceptable and perfect."

    Only when we transform ourselves by doing what God has told us to do can shine as a light in the world (Matthew 5:14-16). Only when we are different from the world can we show the world that there is a different way!

    Let's be the living sacrifices that God wants us to be, so that we can prove that His way is the best way!

From wherever you are right now - BEGIN!