(Read Romans 12)
It’s funny when you run into someone who you haven’t seen since you were a different person. It’s surreal. I vaguely remember partying with this friend almost 40 years ago while we were in college. We weren’t particularly close friends, but we hung out in the same social circles. I can’t even say with confidence what we had in common back then. Our conversations probably stayed on the superficial level, digging into who did the best guitar solo, which football team was better, or who held the wildest parties.
Skip ahead 30+ years. Through the same mutual connections from college, we reconnected. It turns out, we have several profound things in common. We’re both avid runners, devoted to our families, and serious followers of Jesus Christ.
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
What is God’s will for us? In Romans, Paul was urging (beseeching) his readers to be transformed by a renewed mind from Jesus Christ. Paul warned us to avoid conforming to the world system that embraces an “anything goes” attitude. What does this transformation look like? We don’t simply learn new behavior, God produces a new creation in us and in our minds. This is no small detail.
My friend told me about a life-changing event he went through about 15 years ago. After a weekend of binge drinking, he had blacked out and had to be rushed to the ER. Sometime the following morning, when being dismissed, his nurse asked him what a guy like him was doing in a place like this. He said to himself, “I can’t do this anymore.” He continued, “I surrendered to Jesus Christ, but I just didn’t realize it at the time.” He has been sober for 15 years. In this passage, Paul reminds us that God calls us to make a choice about the way we live for Him.
The man my friend has become is a faint shadow of the guy I remember walking the halls of college dorms. He told me about his early days in the faith. “I went to a UCC church as a child and was confirmed as a teenager. I was a believer but it was a back burner thing,” he added. I inquired about how he has been changed since that dark moment 15 years ago. “When I have a bad day, I look back to that moment,” he admitted. Then smiling, he said, “Since then, the world just looks brighter, clearer. It’s as if I’m looking through a different lens.” How so, I asked? He told me he had grown immeasurably since then. He said that every day he asks himself, “How do I live a more grateful and graceful life?”
One thing that my friend pointed out several times is that the Holy Spirit will get you through this. The Holy Spirit can get us through anything. “Has this changed your faith?” I asked.
He replied, “It allows me to fully lean into my faith.” This new skill helped him with family, life, and with leadership tasks. “Not long after, I was asked to be a deacon. I realized that I’ve been blessed to serve and maybe my renewed mind was the reason I’ve been asked.”
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
Romans 12:3-5
Too many times, when we achieve our version of success, we thank ourselves. We get drunk with ego and self-praise. God isn’t looking for winners. He isn’t seeking champions. He wants humility. God chooses broken sinners. None of us can accomplish anything alone, we are one part of a larger body. When we think of how we can help others, do we assume that someone else will take care of it? My friend echoed what he learned from the pandemic and our increasingly volatile society, “I try to remember we are humans and this is a human experience.” His next statement was like a mic drop, “Everyone wants to be happy but we’re not programmed to be happy here.” My readings this morning took this point further. We are never satisfied with what we have so we keep looking horizontally for comfort and happiness. Rather than vertically where our true happiness is.
Throughout his transformation, the power of the Holy Spirit has been so visible in my friend’s life. He told me that he loves all of Romans 12, but I could see his passion as he quoted verse 8 also.
If it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
Romans 12:8
Are we encouraging, generous, merciful, and cheerful in our giving? “I have far to go,” my friend answered. Yes we’re all works in progress but hearing his story and the events since my friend’s surrender at the feet of Jesus, I see a new creation in him. “I’m not afraid to ask people about their faith.” He explained that he keeps, “…an open heart and looks for faith affirming situations and solutions around me.” Next, he showed me a piece of fabric that looked like a giant mask of sorts. “Do you know what this is?” he asked. I had no idea. He explained, “I tell others to take their blinders off,” as he showed me this horse blinder.
I persisted deeper about my friend’s favorite passage in Romans 12 and why? The verse he cited is much like a mission statement for his life. He leads others to the living water. He shares his faith and his story openly with people he encounters. When he sees someone who is really bursting at the seems or really down, he approaches them with the power of Christ’s grace. One time, he presented to a large group in Nashville about 7 Tips for Daily Living. He even handed out cards with the points printed. Several years later, he has had people come out of the blue telling him what a difference he made. Some have said they still have the card he handed out. “It’s been faith affirming,” he beamed.
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Romans 12:12
Life isn’t always peaches and cream. We suffer. We endure pain. But by having hope in the grace of our savior, we can be joyful. By praying faithfully, we are given calm and peace. Our lives should demonstrate the optimism from God’s promises. During a transitional period, my friend had three sales appointments far from home. Each one uncovered amazing conversations about faith. “All three gave my faith a connection to learn, grown, and mature even more,” he exclaimed.
“I see the power of the Lord in my marriage and in my children. It gives me such hope,” he continued. “My wife has MS. We have as strong of a marriage as we can, but sometimes when I feel down, the Lord reveals that He put me with her because I’m equipped to help her, to care for and love her.” I sense that she is exactly what my friend needs in his life too. God doesn’t put us with people randomly.
One of the most ruthless persecutors of Christians, was the Roman Emperor Julian. While criticizing Christians, he said, “These impious Galileans (ie. Christians) not only feed their own poor, but ours also; welcoming them into their agape (overwhelming love), they attract them, as children are attracted, with cakes.”
When we are embodying a “living sacrifice,” we are dying to our own interests and living for God. When we are living a Christian life, we are telling God, “You know best, and I trust you.”
Do we know what God’s will is for our life?
God’s will is not a checklist. It’s a commitment, an attitude. When we start walking in it, God’s way becomes clear. Most faith’s go by the belief that if I obey, therefore I am accepted. My friend’s transformation showed me the exact opposite. I am accepted, therefore I obey.
My friend concluded, “I was once told that my great, great, great grandparents, and aunts and uncles have been praying for me before I was born.” He does the same for his unborn grandchildren. When we learn to recognize the power from that grace, we are transformed to Christ not conformed to the world. What is the will of God? If you believe, live, and follow him, you will surely find out. You can run but you can’t hide.
“Take the things that I possess
I surrender all I own.
Lord, I give my every thought
to be ruled by Christ alone
Take my life”
Matt Osgood
Key Applications:
My friend adapted his 7 daily tips to a more faith-based guidance. Read and pray about each one this week.
- Be Grateful not Great, a humble servant
- Think about what you think about
- Don’t live based on circumstances, live based on your relationship with Jesus
- Live in the World, not OF the World
- Look for presence of the Holy Spirit everywhere
- Get out your comfort zone by leaning into your faith
- Seek a closer relationship with Jesus daily
Where else in your life can you live out the teachings of Christ? Look for next week’s Devotion.