RENEWED

“And do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed BY the renewing of your mind…”
ROMANS 12:2

The depth and power of our salvation is realized to the degree that we are TRANSFORMED BY the renewing of our minds in Christ Jesus. This must be an ongoing operation of the Holy Spirit. In order for this work to continue there must be a conscious effort on our part to resist being conformed to the things (the tempers, lusts, pride, envies, jealousies, hatred, self advancement, backbiting, anger, and all of the other things that come in the many forms of temptation in our daily life) of THIS WORLD. The transformation process of the GRACE of God is to the end that we may PROVE what the will of God is for US AS INDIVIDUALS. Men who never seek God’s Will, will never find it. Men who never DO HIS WILL, will never know it. Men who walk after their own ways will never experience the RENEWAL of mind that is essential to the growth of proving and knowing HIS WILL. We, by nature, are at enmity with God; antagonistic to the knowing and the doing of HIS WILL. WE MUST BE TRANSFORMED and that is accomplished ONLY BY THE RENEWING OF OUR MINDS.

There is never a point of arrival; only an ever increasing understanding of the depth, the width, the height and the breadth of the LOVE and NATURE OF GOD! HE is ever beckoning us to “come up higher” to see HIS humility, HIS Glory, HIS Wonder and HIS MAJESTY. Even holy celestial beings in beholding HIM are left with only the words, HOLY, HOLY, HOLY…! How can we stop in our pursuit? How can we be content with the little we see, know and understand of all that HE IS? We cannot allow age, infirmity, disappointment or compromise to thwart our pursuit of KNOWING HIM.

Being TRANSFORMED is the eternal call to those who have touched the CRY of HIS HEART for relationship with man. Can we not hear the voice of the Lord God walking in the cool of the day crying out “Adam where are you….”? Have we not been gripped by this call? It is in hearing that CALL that we respond “by the mercies of God…” to present our lives unto HIM in such submission (living sacrifices) that we are no longer conformed to this world but we are transformed BY THE RENEWING of OUR MIND (how we see, interpret and understand HIS WILL) in the midst of this dark world. This is not an hour to grow weary or to settle for the status quo; it is an hour to press in with all diligence for HIS mercies to arise in our hearts to a greater submission. Only then will we BE ABLE TO PROVE THAT GOOD, ACCEPTABLE AND PERFECT WILL OF GOD. No teaching in and of itself can enable us to know the will of God in this way; without the accompanying ACT of the renewing of our minds it will simply produce the highest form deception possible. We need look no further than the scribes and Pharisees! The word Pharisee means “called out ones”. How frightening it is to start out well but to stop somewhere along the way! The purpose of being “called out” is that we may ENTER IN!

“Since therefore it remains that some must enter in,
and those to whom it was first preached
did not enter because of disobedience”
HEBREWS 4:6

Ω

“Therefore we do not lose heart.
Even though our outward man is perishing,
yet the inward man is being RENEWED day by day”
II CORINTHIANS 4:16

Brian Troxel