Transformed - What does it mean?
Just
a note before my main post:
Gathering Prayer
Lord God, Maker of
heaven and earth, we come together in Your name.
We come as living
sacrifices, to offer You our worship and thanksgiving, our praise and
our prayers.
Come among us, living
Lord. Through the power of Your Holy Spirit, transform our hearts
and minds so that we may recognize Your presence, hear Your voice,
know Your
will, and walk in Your way.
We ask this in the
name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
From: https://re-worship.blogspot.com
Romans 12: 1-18
(CEB)
So, brothers and sisters, because
of God's mercies, I encourage you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice
that is holy and pleasing to God. This is your appropriate priestly service.
Don't be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your minds so that you can figure out what God's will is—what is
good and pleasing and mature.
Because of the grace that God gave me, I can say to
each one of you: don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think.
Instead, be reasonable since God has measured out a portion of faith to each
one of you. We have many parts in one body, but the parts don't all have the
same function. In the same way, though there are many of us, we are
one body in Christ, and individually we belong to each other. We have different gifts that are
consistent with God's grace that has been given to us. If your gift is
prophecy, you should prophesy in proportion to your faith. If your gift is service, devote
yourself to serving. If your gift is teaching, devote yourself to teaching. If your gift is encouragement,
devote yourself to encouraging. The one giving should do it with no strings
attached. The leader should lead with passion. The one showing mercy should be
cheerful. Love should be shown without pretending. Hate evil, and hold on
to what is good. Love each other like the members of your family. Be
the best at showing honor to each other. Don't hesitate to be
enthusiastic—be on fire in the Spirit as you serve the Lord! Be happy in your hope, stand your
ground when you're in trouble, and devote yourselves to prayer. Contribute to the needs of God's
people, and welcome strangers into your home. Bless people who harass you—bless
and don't curse them. Be happy with those who are
happy, and cry with those who are crying. Consider everyone as equal, and
don't think that you're better than anyone else. Instead, associate with people
who have no status. Don't think that you're so smart. Don't pay back anyone for their
evil actions with evil actions, but show respect for what everyone else
believes is good. If
possible, to the best of your ability, live at peace with all people.
Musing
The line that caught me, that informs all that follows in this
passage is the line, “Don't be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can figure out what God's
will is—what is good and pleasing and mature.”
What are we transformed for, to figure out what God’s will is –
what is God’s will? What is good and pleasing and mature. But who defines what
is good and pleasing and mature? That is what the rest of the passage tells us.
It is good to identify and put to use your gifts of the Spirit, whatever they
are, so that your love is genuine.
What pleases is hating evil, doing good and loving others as if
they are members of your family. Honor each other. Let your faith be known so
that all who encounter you know that you are a beloved child of God.
And what does it mean to be mature? To live in your hope. To be
confident in your faith. To practice spiritual disciplines. To love your fellow
human beings. To be honest about your abilities and gifts. To refrain from tit
for tat or revenge. To find ways to live together that foster peace.
I’m glad that we are Methodists and followers of John Wesley
because we know we are gifted with grace and that our faith is developing, evolving,
and growing but not fully realized. This transformation that Paul outlines is
our hoped-for growth as partners of Christ. It is the goal of faithful living.
But it is also an aspiration – something we want but may not be able to fully
embrace or as Wesley understood it, we are moving on to perfection, we aren’t
there yet but it’s where we’re heading.
My takeaway from this passage at this time is that I am to embody
what Paul writes knowing that I will not succeed fully and that I will do so
again and again. I am on the path, a follower of The Way and as such I am
striving to figure out what God's will is—what is good and pleasing and
mature.” This is the life of faith.
Prayer
Holy Jesus,
You call us into a life that others
have told us is easy, but it is not.
You challenge us to forgive, to love
our enemies, to bless those who curse us.
We want the easy way, but You have given us the hard path.
Grant us the patience and endurance to
journey with You,
to allow ourselves at times to stumble,
to live into the hard way so that we
might fully experience Your love, grace and
peace in this world,
by becoming a people full of love and
grace and forgiving others.
In Your name we pray. Amen.
~ written by Rev. Mindi, and posted on Rev-o-lution. http://rev-o-lution.org/
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