Developing a Christian Mind - part 4
4. The Christian mind contrasts
with the worlds pattern and is renewed to know God’s will
“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 12:2)
The Spirit not only empowers us to do God’s will, as we saw in the last post, He
also brings about a progressive transformation in us towards greater Christ-likeness in order that we can recognise what God’s will is. Scripture (the subject of part 2 in this series) does not answer every question we have about what it means to serve God faithfully. We are confronted with many situations where we must make choices that Scripture does not specifically speak to. In these situations we need to use 'sanctified reason' to determine what God's will for us is. In order for this to happen, we must
offer our bodies to God as living sacrifices, ready to do what God wants us to
do. We must recognise the influences of
the world’s values on our thinking and allow God to renew our minds. Our new way of thinking is shaped by the
gospel that Paul explains in Romans. The
remainder of Romans 12 describes what this looks like in practice as Paul
describes Christian service using the gifts we have been given and the nature
of sincere love. The correct decision in any situation will always be in keeping with love and servanthood.
Too often we allow the
world’s values to shape our thinking about many aspects of life, instead of
seeking God’s will for us in these areas.
If we want to have a Christian mind we must challenge the world’s
pattern, refusing to fit into it, and allow God to renew our thinking on every
issue. This does not mean strict
separation from the world, although we should surely exercise some control over
what we watch, read and listen to. More
importantly, though, we need to learn how to read books, watch films and hear
the news in a Christian way, identifying the values they convey and connecting
the gospel to them. This is essential if
we are to be effective in apologetics and evangelism.
To develop a Christian mind we must learn to recognise the values of the world and make decisions according to God's will.
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