Be Ye Transformed
Scripture: Roman 12 v 1-2:
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies
of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto
God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but
be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that
good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God."
There are two objectives in this passage for every
Christian to aspire to: present your body as a living sacrifice and be
transformed by the renewing of your mind. Perhaps you may believe that those
goals are for apostles, prophets and pastors, not for the flock.
You would be wrong to think that because we are a kingdom
of priests and we all have our allotted tasks and role to play in this
lifetime. For God to achieve His will in us He needs our co-operation. He has
superior knowledge and ability which can only work if we submit to Him and
simultaneously refrain from interfering.
That is what being a living sacrifice means. You give
your life to God and let God run it His way. All day, everyday, under His full
control. The death of Jesus brought us back to life, so we should be eternally
grateful and willing to do anything to repay that awesome miracle. Somehow we
believe that God should be grateful that we accepted Jesus as our Lord. Like we did Him a favour!
Without Jesus' life, death and resurrection we would be
doomed without hope to eternity in the unquenchable fire of Hell. There is no
other name, no other way, by which we can be saved. No religion, philosophy,
belief system, can give mankind anything like eternal salvation in Heaven.
Jesus created us, lost us to the con of Satan, bought us back with His own
sinless life and many still blaspheme His all-powerful name.
We definitely must renew our minds! Our minds have had
many years of conforming to the world and its many evils. Our minds became the
Devil's playground. The master of deception plays continuous mindgames upon
those who know no other way. He lures the unwary into dark places where drugs,
sex, booze, witchcraft and slavery are his traps to bring misery upon those
souls that follow his lies.
He starts on the minds of the very young through
specially appointed TV shows which project images into the imaginations of
those who cannot discern hidden evil. "Innocent" TV programmes like
Gummy Bears and My Little Pony taught children that there was a power outside
themselves that could make them strong. Gummy berry juice and bits of broken
off rainbow gave them extraordinary power.
Those same children were programmed by Satan to believe
in a drug culture, and they have no resistance to it. Its a doorway to misery
and death for millions of addicts, alcoholics, sex slaves, witches. They are
caught up in the hopeless web of deceit unless Jesus sets them free.
However, they cannot be truly free until they are
transformed by renewing their minds to the perfect will of our Father in
heaven. It wipes out the false program traps and resets their minds to
righteous rather than riotous living. It takes time and patience to rebuild
shattered minds but there are less relapses if you are co-operating with Jesus.
During the 1990's a survey was done to compare the
various drug rehabilitation centres in the USA for the number of addicts still
drug free after 5 years. Most of them showed a figure between 5 and 20%. One
stood out, Teen Challenge, a Christian rehab in New York started by David
Wilkerson. They achieved 95% of the addicts being still free 5 years later.
Jesus makes the difference.
He pours out His peace, blessings, love, joy and life
upon us all. It transforms our lives into new creations translated out of
darkness, sin and death into the glorious liberty of His Kingdom. We owe Him
our lives because He overturned our death sentence by dying in our place.
How can we ever repay Him? By becoming a living
sacrifice, yielded to His wonderful purpose to save the rest of mankind. Stop
turning away from people you cannot imagine would want to know Jesus. They have
been conned like you were. They need Him just as much as you did. Your lights
are on to show them the way home.
Be transformed by renewing your minds by reading the Word
of God and overriding error with truth. There is a strong anointing on every
word in the Bible to transform the lives of those who study it and do what it
says. It has answers for every situation the world has flung you into. That's
why false religions burn Bibles and stop people speaking the name of Jesus. It
changes people's lives forever.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, today I know myself and see what
I must do to be changed from the fear of this world to the joy of Your kingdom.
I will humbly submit to Your will for me and pray You can use me to bring
others into the light. In Jesus' name. Amen.