Being transformed

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. ... Romans 12-2

There's a lot of information out there about doing God's will, finding God's will, seeking God's will, knowing God's will. But I'm especially taken by these two simple sentences. Why? Because of what I see here as an absolute release of my own work in the matter.

Be transformed... God's work.
Renewing ... God's work.

God renews my mind so that I can be transformed. When I am transformed, again, something I can't do myself, something outside of myself, I can then test and approve his will, which is GOOD, PLEASING AND PERFECT.

Wow. And then some.

Now, one could argue that it's on us to stop the conforming, but I've found that without God in my life, without that ol' Jesus take the wheel stuff, I can't stop the conforming. Oh, I can try, but just as when I try to find God's will without a God compass or a God flashlight (the word lighting the path and such), I can't. I just can't. I'm sure there are folks who can; I'm just not one of them, apparently.

Bible teacher John MacArthur tells this story:
A young lady approached me last week when I was at a conference speaking, and she was very tearful and very distraught. And she said to me essentially what I have heard in different words many times in my ministry. She said, "I just can't seem to live the Christian life the way I should." She said, "I am frustrated. I am without victory, without a sense of accomplishment. I struggle seemingly with the very simplest forms of obedience in my Christian walk. I'm constantly defeated. Can you help me?"

I said, "Well, what has been your approach to solving the problem yourself?"

She said, "I have tried everything." She said, "I...I've been going to a church where they speak in tongues, where they have healings, where they have all kinds of spiritual experiences." She said, "I've entered into all of them. I've spoken in tongues. I've had certain ecstatic experiences, gifts of prophecy, certain supposed miracles. I've been slain in the Spirit. And in spite of all of this, I am not pleased with my life." And she said in a rather telling remark, "I've tried to get all I could get out of God."

And I said, "That's your problem." The key to spiritual victory is not getting all you can get, but giving all you have. There's a big difference. And there are people literally flocking into churches and spiritual experiences to get more of God when the issue is not what they need to get but what they need to give. And that's the essence of this tremendous passage of Scripture.

Having concluded eleven chapters of profound and thrilling doctrine that defines what God has done for every believer, Paul does not say, "Now here's what you need to get." He says, "Now here's what you need to give." The key to powerful living is not getting something more, but giving all we have. And I'm somewhat admittedly frustrated by that particular idea that is so prevalent in Christianity that what you need to be successful in living the Christian life is to get something...when the real issue is to give.

Giving, not so one can receive but because it is a right and just thing to do, is the one constant all of us can (sometimes very forcefully and intentionally against our very will) do. We can be transformed by simply giving more... more love, more time, more money (yes, it's a requirement, too). We can be transformed not by trying to read tea leaves or ashes but simply giving to another human being something that takes effort.
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