Renewing Your Mind

This morning in Jesus Calling, I read a few things I've heard before...but on the first day of the year, it's good to be reminded:

• Have a teachable spirit, be eager to be changed
• Walking closely with God is a life of continual "newness"
• Seek His face with an open mind

And then a Scripture reference that I immediately recognized, Romans 12:2. "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

Because of the familiarity of the verse, I thought I'd pick it apart a little...looking up some definitions on dictionary.com and using the other meanings of words in my Bible (which is an NASB translation). Here's what I came away with and to be honest, I was excited to see the possibilities of where this will lead me over the next year and even the rest of my life! [Bold words are from my Bible. Parentheses are from dictionary.com.]

"And do not (act in accord with prevailing standards, practices, attitudes of) this age, but be (changed in nature, character, appearance; metamorphose) by the (replenishing) of your mind, so that you may (establish the truth or genuineness of) the will of God, that which is good and (pleasing to the receiver) and (excellent and complete beyond practical or theoretical improvement)."

That's a mouthful! But what does it say to you? I don't claim that these are from the original Greek or anything scholarly. It's just that sometimes for me...to insert synonyms or phrases that explain the verse in more detail helps me look at it like it's the first time I've ever read it.

If you've gone through some of my posts recently, you'll know I've been reading Gregory Boyd's Repenting of Religion. In it, he makes the case that God's perfect will is for us to love Him and others with the same perfect love He has for us. If you keep that in mind as you read through this verse again...knowing throughout the entire reading that God's perfect will is for us is to live in His Love and share it with others...now...what does it say to you?

What is says to me is life-changing! Actually, it's the path He's had me on my entire life...sometimes I'm just paying attention better. Here's the gist though:

'Angela, if you truly want to experience My will for your life...you have to live in My Love. You have to allow yourself to be loved by Me with an unsurpassable (boundless!) Love. And you won't be able to stop yourself from passing this same Love on to others and it will be pleasing to them to receive it because you can't improve upon it...it's absolutely complete! But the only way you will be able to be truthful and genuine in living out My will...My Love...is to allow Me to completely revamp your way of thinking. You cannot live according to the standards, practices, appearance of this age! It's just impossible to do so and live out My perfect will. So this isn't going to be easy, dear one. In fact, you need to let Me go so far as to do a complete metamorphosis. And it's going to be vastly different from anything around you in this culture. If you're ready...I've been waiting! Today...this first day of the year...let's start a new leg of the journey. Together you and I are going to peel away the scales of deception from your eyes and you're going to see My Love for what it truly is...Perfect!'

Amen! Bring it on!