Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
To “renew” something is to begin it again, living in a place with the Lord where our decision-making machine is constantly being renewed, meaning God is making it new, and newer, better and better, always increasingly being conformed to the likeness of the Son. To manifest God’s presence in our lives is to live a life which portrays His face in our face. A better translation of “God’s presence” is to say, “An encounter with The Face”, the true face, the righteous face, the seen, unhidden, bold face of God.
With every layer of our facade the Lord peels off, the closer we get to living out our true face, a real life, not just our presentation face. Most of us find it almost too easy to talk about what others have done, or what “they”, the infamous “they” have NOT done. Similarly, we find it difficult to talk about ourselves and how we fall short, living life as a poser. We tell ourselves that if we were to tell God our deepest secret, you know, the one which keeps us locked in a dark prison cell, we really believe when we open our eyes Jesus will be gone, just like everybody else … and we’ll be, every bit as alone as we always thought we were. Eeyore said, “i knew, as soon as i was my true self, you’d leave just like everyone else. Oh well, i might as well go stand in the dark somewhere.” This is why it was so, SO very important when God is quoted in saying, ““ I will never, under any circumstances, desert you, nor give you up, nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless, nor will I forsake or let you down or relax My hold on you, absolutely, positively, and most assuredly not!””
The Lord wants us to be renewed and to experience His continual renewal. In Romans12:2, being renewed means to not just be repaired, but more to be rebuilt. Now, rebuilding doesn’t mean simply building new things on top of old things, it means to tear down the old and put up what is new and better, more sustainable, and stronger. God is the only one in the universe who knows how to do such a thing. Have you ever been driving at night, got lost in an unfamiliar place, stopped for directions and then tried to follow somebody’s directions in the dark? To me it feels almost impossible. In the same way, living with an unrenewed mind clouds our ability to distinguish God directions … it all gets muddled in our head and we can’t hardly tell if we’re up or down. Without a renewed mind, our true face is buried under the layers of posing, more being pleasers of men, pretending to be acceptable instead of being God followers.
When we verbalize to the Lord all our worst parts, notice that He doesn’t leave, like everyone else has. You may feel abandoned, you may feel alone, but faith is not subject to feelings, never, ever is faith subject to the whims of feeling. God is committed to our well-being, so much so, we can know, i mean really, really know, we are free and won’t be living in the gray scale of a dismal life, where our loudest words are only whispers from our mouths no matter how loud we scream. When the Lord renews our minds, He establishes better vision, makes room for His provision, which is anything that advances the vision. When we allow the Lord to renew our mind, He opens our eyes to see Him more clearly, and He is always improving on that clarity. As the Lord renews our mind, the sky will seem bluer, sounds will be clearer, more distinct and more identifiable. The funny thing about anti-depressants is they don’t allow us to go too high or too low, we are always damped down, restrained, and controlled. But when the Lord renews our minds our highs are more sustainable, and our lows are met with trust and confidence in God. There comes bounce in our step and lift in our voice.
In letting go of all our lies and all our secrets, suddenly we are free to live the life we’ve always dreamed we could live. In fact, believe it or not, the Lord enables us to live the life He has dreamed for us, and it’s the truth, His dreams will come true, for me and you.
Let’s put away from ourselves our nonsensical rationalizations, and our childish, vindictive thinking. The word conform means to “fashion or shape one thing like another”, particularly in its outward appearance. Friends, Romans12:2, to this day, still presents the best idea yet, “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, making you a copy of itself.” Paul is literally saying, “Stop allowing yourself to be framed and squeezed into the shape of the world you live in.” We all have a tendency to conform to the philosophy of this age, literally driven by advertising, and a deep need to “fit in” no matter what the cost. A man said to me once, “That ecstatic state of hormonal magnetism, which is often mistaken for true love, has been used to justify a great many mismatched marriages that have dishonored the Lord.” The world calls the “ecstatic state of hormonal magnetism” love, and without God renewing our mind, we will buy into the lie, leaving us to live out our days in hand-wringing and trying times.
These days, everyone is constantly manipulated towards a tendency constituting pressure against transformation, and towards conformation, afterall, conformation to the world is easier than going against the grain in being transformed by God. Being conformed to the world is easier in the now, but in the long run, it is only heart ache and pain.
Let the Lord renew your motivations, your inclinations, your preferences and standards, and live the dream God has for you.
What do you think?