RENEWING OUR MIND

Proclamation:

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true and proper worship.  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.” Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were written by the Apostle Paul, under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God, to the believers in Rome.  Paul offered them practical examples of how they should live the theological truths and principals which he had presented to them earlier.  He exhorted and encouraged them to yield themselves to God.  Paul told them not to imitate the behavior of the unsaved people around them.  They were to transform their mind by the study of and the meditation on the scriptures until they were saturated with and controlled by The Word of God.

Application:

As Christians, we should live our lives in such a way as to be pleasing to God.  We live in this world but we are not of this world.  Our real home is in heaven and we are on our way there.  We just need to get our mind, focus, and actions right while we are here on earth.  How do we "renew our mind"?  By reading, studying, and meditating on The Word of God.  We should read our Bible more often.  None of us is perfect; we can all improve and do better.  Don't be like the unsaved folk in the world.  When we accepted Christ as our personal savior we were changed, transformed into new creators.  We need to grow spiritually and renew our mind and our commitment on a daily basis.  Now that we belong to God, we can expect the devil to get busy in our lives.  We need to be on guard and constantly renew our foundation in God’s Word.  If we love someone, telling them that we love them once a week is not enough.  We need to show them that we love them by our actions and our behavior daily, if not several times each day.  In the same manner, just reading The Bible on Sunday is not enough.  We must read it and live it each day of the week.