"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." - Romans 12:2 ESV
Yesterday we talked a lot about the "Father of mercies." Today, we're answering the question, "How should we respond to God's great mercy to us?" And we find the answer in the first two verses of Romans 12.
It's in these verses that we see Paul urging Christians to respond to the mercy of God, His forgiveness of our sins, and His inclusion of us in His family. Paul tells us that we are to abandon the pursuit of pleasure, possessions, and societal status* - our goal is not to please anyone else. Instead, we are urged to be transformed from the inside out. Specifically, in the way we think.
Our mindset should be one of determination through the reshaping of our minds by the knowledge of the gospel, power of the Spirit, and by shifting our concerns to the age to come (Romans 8:5-9; 13:11-14), instead of a fascination with the passing fashion of our earthly world and age (2 Corinthians 4:18; 1 John 2:17). It's only by such a sanctifying renewal that we are able to sufficiently discern the behavior that God's revealed will requires in each situation.
This is not to say that having pleasure, possessions, and status are inherently bad by nature, but let's look at John's take on the pursuit of these things. John describes the way of being conformed to this world as "the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life" (1 John 2:16). It's by instinct and our sinful nature that all of us chase those things in pursuit of happiness and meaning.
It could be that God's will is to provide those things to you, but what we're being told here is to view life through the lens of this question:
"What is God's will for me? How can I use my life for His purposes and not for my own?"
So as you go about your day, keep this in your mind. And try to stay conscious of it as you encounter different situations you may face.
