LEARNING DAILY

 

Romans 12:2, And do not be conformed to the 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.

 

I read the following in a devotional I get each day; it was written by Tim Dilena, the Senior Pastor of Times Square Church in New York City.  “If you have a relationship with God, every day changes.  This is why a relationship with Jesus Christ is called ‘born again’.  We don’t need church just on Sundays.  We need God every day.  Religion will ask you for one day a week.  God will ask you for every day.  Religion will say, ‘Show up on Sundays, and everything will be okay.’  That’s not true.  If true transformation is only on Sundays, then we’re in trouble.  It’s the other six days that mess us up.  God says, “I want Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday onward.  I want to walk with you.  I don’t want a relationship with you where you see Me in your best clothes for two hours a week.  That’s a date.  I want a marriage with you.”

 

You might want to reread what Dilena wrote again.  Jesus Christ did not take your place on a cross to forgive your sins and then forget about you.  He wants to transform the way you think and act every day.  That cannot be done by the little time we spend in a church service.  I do not spend near enough time each day with the Lord as I need; I allow life to happen too often!  What would those people think, who saw me in church do all the right things to show I was spiritual, if they saw or heard me the rest of the week?  It is not church attendance or the things we do at the church that changes us.  Only Jesus can change us!

 

The world’s philosophy wants you and me to conform, to be squeezed into the mold of following what it teaches.  There is a great amount of pressure on each of us to do so.  That pressure comes from the fear of what will happen if we don’t think and act like everyone else.  Consider what the world is telling us today regarding personal rights, believing its philosophy that the government knows what is best for us and will take care of us.  Take every shot of vaccine offered or you will not be able to – well, do anything!  Why is all this need to conform being pushed?  The answer seems to be because Satan is in control of this world system we live in and he is against everything God and His people desire.  This world system is based upon human wisdom and values and unbiblical views.  Conforming to the philosophy of the world is about control and destruction.  A Christian lives in the world but is not to be of the world (John 15:19).

 

But the Kingdom of God is not of this world.  When you give your life to Jesus Christ, you are called to be light to this dark world.  You are to resist the temptation of this world, resist conforming to what this world believes in.  You do not have to look very far to see the greed, self-centered life-style, envy, political maneuvering for power, lack of modesty. immorality, and humanistic thinking.  The alternative to this life-style is transformation.  Transformation happens when Jesus Christ renews our minds so that we live our lives (present and plans for the future) in a way that we are governed by God’s Word, His eternal Truth, instead of the world’s temporary and deceitful ways. 

 

This is God’s desire for each of us.  Through renewing our mind and being transformed by the Lord Jesus Christ, we are able to prove and affirm that His will is good and desirable and perfect.  That is our testimony to what He has done in our lives.  Once, we were not good, following Satan’s imperfect plan for us.  But now as Believers, we now know that God’ plan, His will for each of us is far higher and a better way to live our lives.

 

Get into and stay in God’s Word.  Allow it to transform you.  Stay on the narrow way, the only way that leads to eternal life in the kingdom of God.