Romans 12:1, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." As believers, we must possess a single minded passion to please God in love, devotion, praise and holiness, and to offer the members of our bodies for His service. Our greatest desire and prayer should be to live a life of holiness and to be accepted by God. This requires separating ourselves from the world and drawing ever nearer to God. We must live for God, worship Him, obey Him, take His side against sin, stand for righteousness, resist and hate evil, perform works of kindness for others, imitate Christ, follow Him, serve Him, walk after the Spirit and be filled with the Holy Spirit! We must present our bodies to God as dead to sin and as the temple of the Holy Spirit.
v. 2 " And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Paul implies several things in this verse. We must realize that the present world system is evil and under the rule of Satan. We must stand against the prevailing and popular forms of the spirit of this world, proclaiming instead the eternal truths and righteous standards of God's Word for Christ's sake. We must despise and abhor that which is evil, love what is righteous and refuse to yield to the various types of worldliness that constantly surround the church such as greed, selfishness, humanistic thinking, political maneuvering for power, envy, hate, revenge, impurity, filthy language, ungodly entertainment, sensuality, immodesty, immorality, drugs, alcohol, and worldly companions.
We must have our minds conformed to God's way of thinking by reading and meditating on His Word. We must have our plans, goals, and ambitions determined by heavenly and eternal truths, not by this evil, temporal, and transient age. (From the Life in the Spirit Study Bible)
Whatever changes must take place in our lives, it is worth it if we are to be acceptable to God, and have His smile of approval upon us!
v. 2 " And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Paul implies several things in this verse. We must realize that the present world system is evil and under the rule of Satan. We must stand against the prevailing and popular forms of the spirit of this world, proclaiming instead the eternal truths and righteous standards of God's Word for Christ's sake. We must despise and abhor that which is evil, love what is righteous and refuse to yield to the various types of worldliness that constantly surround the church such as greed, selfishness, humanistic thinking, political maneuvering for power, envy, hate, revenge, impurity, filthy language, ungodly entertainment, sensuality, immodesty, immorality, drugs, alcohol, and worldly companions.
We must have our minds conformed to God's way of thinking by reading and meditating on His Word. We must have our plans, goals, and ambitions determined by heavenly and eternal truths, not by this evil, temporal, and transient age. (From the Life in the Spirit Study Bible)
Whatever changes must take place in our lives, it is worth it if we are to be acceptable to God, and have His smile of approval upon us!