hat a world we live in: wars, terrorism, perversions, the seduction of material Ithings, the quest for riches. How do we as Christians show the light of Christ in the midst of all this darkness? Two scriptures I have been meditating on lately are, I believe, the answer to this question.
The first one is Rom. 12:2 Do not be conformed to the world [this age], [fashioned after and adapted to its eternal, superficial customs], but be transformed [changed] by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you], (AMP) and the second one is John 15:4: Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me and I will live in you]. Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in [being vitally united to] the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me. (AMP)
When we conform ourselves to this world, by our speech and our actions, we look no different from the world. We can attend church every Sunday and feel very self righteous, but if we are not showing Christ to the world and we are living like the world, our righteousness is as filthy rags.
Isa 64:6: For we have all become like one who is unclean [ceremonially,
like a leper], and all our righteousness [our best deeds of Tightness and justice] is like filthy rags or a polluted garment; we all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away [far from God's favour, hurrying us toward destruction]. Lev. 13:45, 46 (AMP)
How can we renew our minds; transform our way of thinking? If we are not to be conformed to this world, fashioned after and adapted to its way of doing things, then we are to pattern ourselves and conform ourselves to Christ. We are to come to the same place as Paul who says: Gal. 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ [the Messiah] lives in me and the life I now live in the body, I live by faith in [by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in] the son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me (AMP)
Transformation comes when we fill ourselves with the Word, immerse ourselves in Him. John 15 tells us to abide, be vitally united. The original Greek says we are to be in 'living communion' with Him. That requires more than our obligatory hour on Sunday and our five minutes of prayer a day. It is a twenty four hour commitment, seven days a week, to walk in an awareness of who we are and who He is.
Transformation of the mind requires self
discipline. It is so easy
to lose our focus and go down a rabbit trail. Many times I have been taking time to spend with the Lord and the next thing I know, I am planning my dinner menu or watering my plants! So I have to capture my mind and bring it back into line as Paul tells us in 2 Cor. 10:5, bring into captivity every thought into obedience to Christ.
I have found that reading the Word out loud, speaking, praying in an audible voice, keeps my mind set on what I am doing. When your mouth is engages, the brain seems to come into order. I was at a conference and one of the speakers said there were two reasons to pray or read the Word out loud: you know when you are finished, and hearing the Word builds your faith. So we use our tongue to lasso our mind so it doesn't stray.
Rom. 10:17: So faith comes by hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the preaching [of the message that came from the lips] of Christ [the Messiah Himself], (AMP)
In Rom. 10:17 we are told 'be transformed [changed] by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude]. What are our new ideals and attitudes? When we are born again our spirit is renewed, but our flesh and our souls [mind, will and emotions] still need to be renewed and we do this by spending time in the Word and in fellowship with the Lord. We become like those we spend time with. So our new attitudes and ideals should line up with the Word of God. Whereas before we were born again, our thoughts lined with the world and every 'new thing' that the enemy presented to seduce us, now we have a new way; which is in Christ Jesus.
It is a choice. Romans 8: 5-6 says, "For they who are according to the flesh mind things of flesh, but they who are according to the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Our mind is the center of reasoning, the decision maker. It makes the choice: flesh or spirit. Hence the need to renew our minds with the things of God so the choice is life, not death.
Proverbs 23:7 says 'as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.' When we
abide in Christ; are in living communion with Him, and are renewing
our mind with his Word; His way of thinking, then all the things the
world bombards us with will be cast down as vain imaginations and we will
choose life.
The days are coming and even are already here when it will be imperative to have a living communion with the Lord; to have his way of thinking and doing. Isaiah 60:2: For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, anc gross darkness the peoples; but Jehovah shall rise on you and his glory shall be seen on you.
Luke 17:26: And as it was in the days of Noah, so it also shall be in the
days of the son of Man (NKJV)
In the days of Noah there was great sin, people following their own desires, but Noah had a living communion relationship with the Lord and he and his family were saved.
Now is the time to get a heavenly perspectice on what is happening in our church and in our country. We need to start bearing heavenly fruit and be more and more transformed into His image or we will never ben that light to the world.
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