"And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Romans 12v2
To live for God in the way in which Paul describes in verse 1, will require a change of mind- set. If we are going to act differently, we will need to think differently. He begins with a negative " be not conformed to this world." All of us have a negative and a positive side to our brains; that is the way we are made. There are things we should not do, and there are things we should do. What is true in the natural life is also true in spiritual life. Some of us, however, re-act badly to the necessary negative side of Christianity. There are things we must not do, this much is clear from many other scriptures. Psalm 1 "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." Psalm 1v1. Before the Psalmist will go on to say what we should do he begins by stating that the way to blessing in Divine things begins with what we don't do. the same pattern is seen in Ephesians 4v17 "This I say therefore and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles in the vanity of their mind." So we are to be not conformed to this world, and this will only be possible by the transforming of our minds.
The word for world is age - eion in the Greek; this word means the trends of a particular period of time in world history, how the world lives in any particular age. We have first of all to understand the character of the age in which we live:
- It is an evil age - Galatians 1v4 - "Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age." This present age in which we live began with the greatest act of evil ever perpetrated on earth, namely the unlawful killing of Jesus Christ, an innocent man, but much more than just a man. We are living at near the end of that age and the trend is to eradicate His name from public holidays etc. as has been graphically pointed out recently by President Putin of Russia. The age began with His killing, and the age is ending with His public rejection, especially by the western world. It is indeed an evil age.
- It is a perverse generation - Acts 2v40 - Where Peter said to all would be followers of Christ "Save yourselves from this perverse generation ." R.V. A generation which wishes to turn the laws of God upon their head, a generation which wishes to call good evil, and evil good.
- This age will come to an end - Matthew 13v39 - "The harvest is the end of the age." Matthew 13v40 "So shall it be in the end of this age." Matthew 13v49 "So shall it be at the end of this age: the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from the just." Matthew 28v20 "Lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the age." The present age has an end, a new order of things will come in which will radically change the face of things.
- it is an age full of cares and anxieties and which carries the delusion of the deceitful of riches - Mark 4v19.
- The trends of this present age will come to nothing - 1st Corinthians 2v6 "The wisdom of this age, nor of the princes of this age that come to nought."
- This is a dark age controlled by demon spirits - Ephesians 6v12 - "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual powers of wickedness in high places."
This is the age in which we live as described by the Holy Spirit. The extent to which we become non conformist to this age is a matter of decision between you and your God. However, every negative requires a positive, otherwise we are left with a vacuum, and having emptied our lives of how we used to live we now have to replace it with something good; says Paul the way to do this is to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. The word for transformed is "metamorphoo" from which we get our word "metamorphosis," the technical term for the transformation of a caterpillar to a butterfly. This wonderful process of nature can happen in a spiritual sense in a believer's life by the power of the grace of God. God wants to change us from ugly, slimy horrible creatures, to become a thing of beauty, vibrant, colorful, bringing joy to all! There is nothing pleasant about a human being living a sinful, selfish life; nothing attractive about it at all; we were made for better things; sin came in and destroyed our nature, blighted our character, " turned us into ugly caterpillars. " God, through the Holy Spirit can re-programme our minds to become the people that He always intended us to be. "We all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed (transformed - same word as here) into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2nd Corinthians 3v18; "According to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit." Titus 3v5; "Put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created Him." Colossians 3v10.
This wonderful life- transforming power of the grace of God begins in the mind, and, since the mind controls the body so this transformation will work through to all our members for the glory of God. Paul says something very interesting here " That ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." God's way is better than our way, the new man is better than the old man. God is in the process of changing us, but we have to prove it, we have to make it real in our lives, we have to yield to allow God to work in us. Says Paul, this will of God is good; there was nothing good about the old way. Everything about the new way is good. Secondly God's way is acceptable, that is pleasing. In verse 1 he spoke about a sacrifice that was acceptable to God; now he speaks of a way which is acceptable to us, but we have to prove it, and when we do we will find it is more pleasing and acceptable than anything we did before. Thirdly, he says this will of God is perfect; it cannot be improved upon, there is nothing better than that I now live my life in the will of God, because, by comparison everything else is imperfect. "As for God His way is perfect" Psalm 18v30.
God knows that only by us allowing Him to change us in mind and body as a response to His grace in Christ, will we be fully satisfied. He only wants the best for us and He knows what is the best.
"God's way is the best way, God's way is the right way,
I'll trust in Him always, He knoweth the best".
This wonderful life- transforming power of the grace of God begins in the mind, and, since the mind controls the body so this transformation will work through to all our members for the glory of God. Paul says something very interesting here " That ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." God's way is better than our way, the new man is better than the old man. God is in the process of changing us, but we have to prove it, we have to make it real in our lives, we have to yield to allow God to work in us. Says Paul, this will of God is good; there was nothing good about the old way. Everything about the new way is good. Secondly God's way is acceptable, that is pleasing. In verse 1 he spoke about a sacrifice that was acceptable to God; now he speaks of a way which is acceptable to us, but we have to prove it, and when we do we will find it is more pleasing and acceptable than anything we did before. Thirdly, he says this will of God is perfect; it cannot be improved upon, there is nothing better than that I now live my life in the will of God, because, by comparison everything else is imperfect. "As for God His way is perfect" Psalm 18v30.
God knows that only by us allowing Him to change us in mind and body as a response to His grace in Christ, will we be fully satisfied. He only wants the best for us and He knows what is the best.
"God's way is the best way, God's way is the right way,
I'll trust in Him always, He knoweth the best".
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