based on the LGG Study, The Armor of God / w5d3
Scripture: Romans 12:1-2 / SOAP: verse 2
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Romans 12:2 NLT
It may seem odd to hear Paul – or anyone for that matter – encourage the believers to present their bodies as living sacrifices, but Paul was teaching, as Bibleref.com explains, “as the Jewish people offered killed animals as sacrifices to God, Christians should instead offer ourselves, our bodies, to Him as living sacrifices.”
For everything comes from Him and exists by His power and is intended for His glory. All glory to Him forever! Amen.”
Romans 11:36
Paul’s point is that God is worthy, or as he says – “It is your reasonable act of service” to know and live out the will of God. Paul understood as we saw in our journey yesterday, that when we keep on thinking about the things of God – all He is and has done or promised to do – then our minds will be transformed and our will aligned with God’s. His desires become ours and we will be able to better distinguish what is good and pleasing to Him.
When we keep our mind on earthly things we will be influenced by those things, or people, or cultural norms which is the natural bent of humans. The sinful nature leads us to follow after our own desires rather than God’s, however, we are told throughout the letters of Paul to “put on the new nature – and be renewed.”
The way to escape conformation to the world is through transformation by God, which is the renewing of your mind -🦋
Me🦋 FromtheNsideoutt
It is important to understand that we cannot transform ourselves. Paul says to, “Let God transform You into a new person by changing the way you think.” In other words, we do not – actually we cannot – transform ourselves. Notice with me, while in many of his writings Paul tells us that we need to put off the old and put on the new, he does not tell them here to change they way they live, look, or even act but instead he tells them to “Let God change the way they think.” Paul is teaching them the same thing he taught the Colossians, the mind greatly influences our decisions. When we allow God to transform our minds from the old nature to the new one we have been given in Christ we will live in a way that is pleasing and acceptable to Him.
One way I have found to let God change the way I think is through His Word. Whether it is reading it, listening to it in sermons, memorizing it, singing it, or discussing it with others, God’s Word will bring real and lasting transformation of our minds which will lead to a life-changing transformation from the inside-out 🦋 affecting not just us but all those around us.
But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Hebrews 5:14
Prayer of Response to the Word
Father, please help us to faithfully stay in Your Word and to live by it. Let us be women of faith who dwell in the Word so that Your Word may dwell in us – so that we may be forever changed – living lives that are pleasing and acceptable to You and igniting change in others! In Jesus’ Name I pray – Amen!
Going Further in the journey
Be sure and read today’s LGG Blog Post
Me From the Inside Out 