(Rom.12:1-2)
1 “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.
2 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.â€
In Romans twelve we see our honorable Paul, the great Apostle & Defender of the faith of our Lord, the once determined Destroyer of this faith, “beseeching” us by the mercies of God to give ourselves to this holy act! The word beseech here in the original Greek is “parakaleō”. It is translated as “desire” 8 times and “pray” 6 times in the New Testament. There is great emotion and spiritual fervor to be experienced here in this verse as Paul is earnestly contending for the faith in you and I. Paul is passionately pleading with his followers in Rome to follow him as He follows Christ. Paul’s was a life fully presented to the Lord. This was his reasonable service that brought him all the way through to Rome where He was beheaded for his allegiance to Christ.
Paul, whose faith and devotion led him to be beheaded as a martyr, was the one who passionately exhorted his followers to fully surrender to Almighty God, which He promised would lead to transformation by the renewing of their minds. He lost his head in Rome where He promised their heads would be the seat of transformation. In surrendering his mind to Christ He was transformed. In surrendering his head to Christ he lost his head in martyrdom.
Many like to jump to verse two in this chapter, but verse one is it’s foundation. The body and life must be first surrendered in order for the power of Christ to effectively transform a person by the renewing of their mind. Then comes the proving of such a mighty work! The proof is in the pudding when you’re examining the work of a chef. The proof is in the life of the believer lived in God’s perfect will when examining the work of Christ inside a man! The proof can only be realized once a life and body has been fully presented as a living sacrifice and transformation has occurred through the renewal of the mind! Oh the glory of the cross! Oh the glory of the work of our risen Lord!
MY TESTIMONY OF LATE
Lately I have found myself re-shackled to the Living Word of God continually each day, to my own joy and contentment. Not that I was divorced of the Word before, but there’s been a fresh wave of fervency that has come to my heart in handling the Word of God of late. Like my teenage years when I was much younger, when I would memorize scripture out of my great love affair with it, so has been my experience once again of late. So has been my great transforming joy once again this year.
When we meditate the Word of God day by day we cannot begin to imagine the incredible benefits it offers to our whole person; to our body, mind, and spirit. We know of it’s physical benefits when we read how our bones are made fat because of it (Prov.15:30), and how it gives health to our flesh (Prov.4:22). We know of its power to save our very souls (Ja.1:21) and to bring forth the life of Christ within thirty-fold, sixty-fold, one hundred-fold (Matt.13:23). But the word of God’s unmatched power to literally transform the way a person thinks; to rewire their minds by jacking them into the collective consciousness of the Divine; to transform our persons by renewing our minds,... it is unbelievable. It is the very power and grace of the Almighty! Nobody does this like the Lord our God.
Lately I’ve had the great joy of meditating on the wisdom books of the bible (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, & Ecclesiastes). As I’ve meditated these verses every day for about six months now, and as I’ve memorized several of these wisdom verses, I’ve experienced little by little this fresh phenomena of transformation from the inside out via the renewing of my mind.
“Renew” in the Greek is an interesting and fun word! It’s “anakainōsis” in the original language meaning “a renewal, a renovation, a complete change for the better”. It is a furtherance of the meaning of the word “transformation” which is “metamorphoō”. Metamorphoo is where we get “metamorphosis” from. Think of a worm going into a cocoon and coming out a butterfly after it’s undergone serious “transformation”; after it’s undergone “metamorphosis”! This is the power you hold in your hand when you take hold of your bible. This is the power of God to take your worm-like thinking and communicate the very gospel of Jesus Christ to you and see you emerge in the beauty and glory of the sons of God! What a God we serve!
CONCLUSION
As I’ve been exploring the unsearchable depths of this transformation of late in the beauty of the scriptures I’ve seen tangible change day after day. For instance, one of my memory verses for a week in the month of June was (Prov.10:19) which states: “In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but He who restrains his lips is wise”. I have quite literally, spiritually speaking, found a restraint on my lips ever since, and I can’t tell you how much peace it has brought me. The wisdom of God is quiet, calm, collective, and is not ruled by emotion. Loud impulsive mouths belong to fools, and little did I know for so many years how ruled I was by the spirit of the fool. I grouped with fools, ran with fools, was friends with fools, and that’s the fruit that I manifested for many years. Never again. My studies this year in the wisdom books of the bible have given me access to the mind of God’s own wisdom. Wisdom is the power that dominates the thoughts and actions of the Divine, and oh how lacking we really are when we choose the way of the fool. Never again I say, never again. But to see this change, this transformation taking place day after day as God has literally transformed me through the renewing,.. through the renovation of my mind and thinking, is astounding. My life will never be the same.
So today I join with the voice of our beloved Paul from thousands of years ago to say to you my dear reader: I beseech you, by the mercies of God, as you lead with the laying down of your life and body, give yourself to this extraordinary work! You will never regret it as long as you live, and even beyond this life. You will see the change you lack now, producing the results you long for within. You will see the God-life abound in your very skin. You will see the life of Christ grow up and out by the transformation that takes place through renewing your mind according to the Word. I assure you, you will see it!
In his Service,
Stephen Powell
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