35 - Connecting w/ God

Dr Jim Brown's TruNorth Devotional
CONNECTING with GOD
Day  35 | RE-MOLDING OUR MINDS
RE-MOLDING OUR MINDS

Romans 12:1-2
“With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers, as an act of intelligent worship, to give Him your bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to Him and acceptable by Him. Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God re-mold your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the Plan of God for you is good, meets all His demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.”
 (JB Phillips)

Paul is appealing to the WILL of the Romans, to whom this letter was originally addressed.  They had the opportunity to CHOOSE – as do we – the way that we live for Christ.

“With eyes wide open to the mercies of God…” Here Paul is referencing what he has shared in this book of Romans in the first eleven chapters. He goes on to warn these Christ-followers to NOT let the world squeeze them into its mold.  That is, they were not to become like “the world” … people who don’t accepted God or Christ or the recognition of or need for the forgiveness of sin. (Romans 1-11).

How similar today. Yes, the technologies have changed, but the problem of living for God or NOT is as real today as it was in the 1st century church.

Paul reminds us that our minds need to be re-molded by the LORD so that our lives will “prove in practice” the “plan of God” – and that that plan is good, meets His demands and is moving us toward the goal of true maturity in Christ.

Always keep that in mind.  Just as a baby needs to grow up and mature – and not doing so indicates something seriously wrong – so it is when we become “born again.” We should grow up and mature. Otherwise, something’s wrong.

Prayer: Lord, help me to mature in you.  Help me to be a doer of the Word and not a hearer only.  Help me to learn of and follow you plan for my life.  Amen.