Pastoral Counsel – Jen Miller
Crisis: 309.712.5149
Appointment: jen@sara-ministry.com
Jen is a…
Romans 12:2 (NIV)
“…be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
What does this scripture mean for us today? Why? How do we ‘renew’ our minds?
1. Romans 12:2 is a directive from our Fathert. It’s not a suggestion or request; it’s a command. But as with everything our gracious God asks us to do, He gives us a personal CHOICE to obey or not.
2. He doesn’t say or even suggest in this scripture that He will renew our minds for us. He tells US to do this ourselves, “BE TRANSFORMED…” and He tells us how!
3. Aside from obeying for the sake of obeying, the resulting purposes for obeying Romans 12:2 are:
-
to become ALL that He created us to be as His children (transformed);
-
to draw others to Him for the sake of eternity, free from sin, evil, and death, free from hopeless and eternal separation from Him…
-
to teach others to become ALL that He created them to be,
Thus the circle of NEW LIFE is continually perpetuated.
4. How do we become transformed? First, we must recognize who we are by nature. We were born with a sin ‘nature’. By virture of that sin nature we naturally ’think’, make ‘choices’, and ’act’ out of our sin nature. The natural results of thinking, making choices, and acting out of a sin nature is damage, disaster, devastation, debilitation, and ultimately death. Eternal death for those who have not accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior, and a ‘dead’ earthly life for the Christian who does not seek to obey His commands designed for our GOOD and for fulfiling HIS purposes.
God warns in Romans 3:23, ”For all have sinned and come short of the GLORY of God.” He declares in James 4:17, “…to him who knows to do good and does not doit, to him it is sin. He promises in Romas 6:23 that “…the wages of sin is death…” But, He pleads HOPE and LIFE in 2 Peter 3:9 that he is “not willing that any should perish,” and assures us in John 10:10, “I have come that they [all mankind] may have LIFE, and have it to the FULL.”
To ‘renew’ our mind would then be to make a conscious choice to daily, hourly PRACTICE
- ‘thinking’ differently than our natural tendency. Practice thinking as God does, according to His Word;
- making ‘choices’ differently than our natural tendency. Practice thinking according to the principles and promises of His Word; and
- ‘acting’ differently than our natural tendency. Practice acting out of those NEW and DIFFERENT thoughts and choices.
5. This command to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” is not limited to certain circumstances, times, or people. It’s for ALL circumstances, at ALL times, with ALL people. Wow… consider the ramifications…
6. The result of obeying this Romans 12:2 directive would impact not only ourselves and the way we view others and circumstances, but it would impact ALL those in our lives: our husbands, children, in-laws, other extended family members, friends, acquaintences, strangers…, and in EVERY circumstance great and small.
The result of obedience is TRANSFORMATION.
7. The daily, hourly practice of ‘renewing’ our minds – like anything worthy and righeous - will require sacrifice. Sometimes it will be a sacrifice of our time, other times it will be a sacrifice of our pride… our opinions, our money… But according to I Samuel 15:22, “…to obey is better than sacrifice.”
Our responsibility, purpose, as children of God is…
- to become ALL God created us to be so we might…
- draw others to Him for salvation and eternal life, then…
- make disciples, “teaching them to observe EVERYTHING
I have commanded YOU.
Again, the circle of NEW LIFE continually perpetuates.
WILL YOU TAKE THE ROMANS 12:2 CHALLENGE?
Begin today; right now. Practice renewing your mind according to God’s principles with every thought, every decision, every action, in everycircumstanc, and with every person, and watch the TRANSFORMATION of YOU and others into NEW LIFE.
Joy Copyright 2010 Jen Miller – All Rights Reserved
‘Morning Message’ is a ministry of The Sara Ministry
IF YOU WISH TO SUBSCRIBE OTHERS
to receive our ‘Morning Message’, simply send your list of names and email addresses to: saraministry2007@gmail.com. Your contacts may unsubscribe at any time.
HAS GOD GIFTED AND CALLED YOU TO SERVE AS A WRITER? DO YOU HAVE THAT URGING IN YOUR SPIRIT TO SHARE GOD’S WORD, HIS PRINCIPLES AND PROMISES WITH OTHERS THROUGH WRITING? If so, we invite you to contact us about joining our writing team as we strive to deliver a fresh, short Morning Message 7 days a week.
UNSUBSCRIBE: If you wish to no longer receive the Morning Message, simply reply to this email with: Please Remove.
CONTACT: saraministry2007@gmail.com
WEB SITE: www.sara-ministry.com
