Limping through it, really....if I'm being honest.
It's a brilliant book. (Which is perhaps why I am stumbling through it.)
With all its mentioning of salvation, faith, righteousness.
I'm just finding it all a bit difficult to digest these days. And oddly so, it seems. Many respectable Christians I know - site Romans as their most favorite book in scripture.
And here I am - chewing on it and gnawing at it - floundering a bit.
But.....
There have been some easily digestible nuggets.....some clear-cut words that have pierced me right where I've needed them to.
Like the first few lines of chapter 12, for instance.....
I appeal to you therefore brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.....
Do not be conformed to this world
Be transformed by the renewal of your mind
Conformed verses transformed.
It's easy to conform. All you need is exposure to some culture or some way - and a weak, willing, or complacent will.
But to transform...
Ah!
To have total change radiate out....this takes the Holy Spirit! This requires time spent in His presence!
And all this...as the scripture goes on to say - it involves the renewal of the mind.
Our minds need to mind, essentially.
It's that simple. And it's that complex.
But what does that look like, really? How does a mind become whole, healed, holy?
The same way our hearts and souls do..... the Lord.
2 Corinthians 3:18 says it best....
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
'From the Lord who is the Spirit'. Yes!
But we must place ourselves. We must decide to sit under His lordship. And when we do - when we bask in His glory and hand it all over - even the hidden crevices of the mind - transformation is sure.
The addictions, the lust, the anger, the recounting of hurtful events, the festering, the mental adultery, the malice, the depression, the fear....
All of that can be tended to as He strengthens us to be the gatekeepers of what goes in and out of our brains.
Thinking about what we think about - this is healthy.
Being aware of what our minds are entertaining at any given moment....thwarting the prideful dreams and the lust-filled images and the desire for revenge and the dark negativism - making them flee....this.is.victory!
And it's yours in Jesus.
Hmm. Maybe Romans isn't so bad after all? Stay in the Word with me friends. He will meet you there.
Conformed verses transformed.
It's easy to conform. All you need is exposure to some culture or some way - and a weak, willing, or complacent will.
But to transform...
Ah!
To have total change radiate out....this takes the Holy Spirit! This requires time spent in His presence!
And all this...as the scripture goes on to say - it involves the renewal of the mind.
Our minds need to mind, essentially.
It's that simple. And it's that complex.
But what does that look like, really? How does a mind become whole, healed, holy?
The same way our hearts and souls do..... the Lord.
2 Corinthians 3:18 says it best....
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
'From the Lord who is the Spirit'. Yes!
But we must place ourselves. We must decide to sit under His lordship. And when we do - when we bask in His glory and hand it all over - even the hidden crevices of the mind - transformation is sure.
The addictions, the lust, the anger, the recounting of hurtful events, the festering, the mental adultery, the malice, the depression, the fear....
All of that can be tended to as He strengthens us to be the gatekeepers of what goes in and out of our brains.
Thinking about what we think about - this is healthy.
Being aware of what our minds are entertaining at any given moment....thwarting the prideful dreams and the lust-filled images and the desire for revenge and the dark negativism - making them flee....this.is.victory!
And it's yours in Jesus.
Hmm. Maybe Romans isn't so bad after all? Stay in the Word with me friends. He will meet you there.
