Romans 12: How-to Christianity (Part 1)
This is the first part of a 3-part series on Romans 12: How-to Christianity. CLICK HERE for Part 2. To continue on to Part 3, CLICK HERE.
Tale as old as time, husband and wife were facing off. As we ran errands, making our way store to store, the wintery darkness caving in brought even more gloomy darkness to our day. I remember the headlights of the passing cars and the neon strip of stores as I do the feelings that day brought. Our vehement and rabid argument was only increasing in intensity. As I dropped off Bob to pick up his car, our final errand for the night, I breathed a sigh of relief. A moment of reprieve.
Ding
I glanced at my phone. “It’s time for a divorce. Lots of people get a divorce. It’s over.” I’m overcome with sorrow and uncertainty. Maybe this is the only way.
Looking back years later on that day, there was a pivotal fork in the road before us. One path would lead us down a road of separation and divorce. The other would lead down a path of redemption and restoration. Both paths would ultimately lead to death. Either we choose to allow our marriage to die, or we die to our own self.
As we navigated the murky waters ahead of us, we came across Romans 12. Over the next few weeks, we will walk through the entirety of Romans 12, but today we are going to sit right here in verses 1 and 2. Revealed through this passage, Bob and I acknowledged that if we want our lives to look different, we need to do different things. We could no longer sit in our cycle of trigger and shame. The finger-pointing had to stop. If we wanted to effect change in our lives, let alone our marriage, we had to own our story by changing the script we had committed to memory.
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 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 12:1-2
“…in view of God’s mercy, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice…”
It typically feels better to be the one giving mercy than receiving. When I extend mercy, I feel like I am contributing some good to the world. I have the power to make someone else feel good, to experience compassion, and I have the ability to extend forbearance, even when they have offended! Receiving mercy, though? This I am not so good at. Receiving mercy reveals my own nature, that I am an offender.
In response to the mercy extended to me, my worship needs to be from my whole being. Worship is more than harmonizing our voices on Sunday mornings. I thought I understood this. I wasn’t a “bad kid.” I went to the youth group and served on Sunday mornings. I didn’t have lots of boyfriends, and I didn’t do drugs or drink. Overall I was “good.” What about those times when I snapped out of anger at my little sister? How about those times I didn’t try my best with what was put before me but took the easy way out? And then there were those times when I choose self-gratifying entertainment over pursuing the things of God. No, I wasn’t good. I just made it appear so.
“…be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”
Habit is the largest dictator of our life trajectory. We settle into routines and ruts, often leading us to apathy when we consider implementing change. You may have heard the familiar definitions of insanity: doing the same thing and expecting different results.
In our world of self-actualization, mind transformation to align with God’s will is not done out of a self-effort. This isn’t another self-help gimmick. God is not interested in our self-help attempts. When we pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, we might as well snub our nose at God and say, “Thanks but no thanks. I can do this on my own.” Ouch. Renewal of our mind comes through consistent meditation on God’s word. He’s already provided the way! Psalm 119:15 affirms what action we need to take: “I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.”
Here are some ways I have practically brought this into my life:
Write out scripture on notecards. When verses I came across in studies or searches, I would write them out and carry them in my purse. Every time I would go for my lip balm, my hand would run into these cards, reminding me to take a glance at them.
Set reminders on my phone. This is actually how I meditated on this scripture. I would enter this as a note in my phone and set it to remind me daily at a specific time. I would read it just once each day. After a while, it became a part of who I am.
Record a verse to listen to later. Record with your voice memo app a scripture passage you would like to meditate on. When you cannot take time to read, or if you prefer auditory learning, give this a listen!
“…then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is…”
God’s will at times seems vague and elusive, and there is a lot of truth to this. We are reminded in Isaiah that God’s ways are not our ways. However, we are promised when we follow God, dying to our own self-will and turning over our whole bodies to him, we will be able to discern his will and act on it. Our will aligns with his, bringing delight and joy in our lives, no matter the circumstances surrounding us.
You may be in a place of difficulty right now, and you are struggling with understanding God’s will for you right now. There is hope for you because I know God’s heart is to show us his plans! Even better…he wants us to take part in his plans too. What habit have you routinely found yourself caught in, preventing you from transforming your mind?
This is the first part of a 3-part series on Romans 12: How-to Christianity. CLICK HERE for Part 2. To continue to Part 3, CLICK HERE.
What is one new way you will meditate on scripture: Notecards, Phone Reminders, Voice Memos, or something else?
