Think the Way God Thinks

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)

Paul opened Romans 12 with a strong appeal: “I beseech.” This wasn’t a command. He was urging and pleading, on the basis of God's mercy, for the believer to receive this.

He explained that the body must be brought under submission rather than allowed to follow every desire it has. The pull of the flesh will drag you away from the will of God, whether you intend it or not. You cannot expect God to keep pouring revelation into a life that is not being maintained. The body matters in this process.

Then comes the second requirement, and this is where most believers fall short. “Be not conformed to this world.” That word conformed means modeled after. Do not let the world set the pattern for how you think. Do not let its values, priorities, way of interpreting events and relationships, and decisions become your default operating system. The world's thinking will pull you toward the world's conclusions, and the world's conclusions will never lead you into the will of God.

Instead, Paul expressed his desire for the believer to be transformed. Transformation comes through renewing the mind. That means deliberately and consistently replacing the way the world thinks with the way God thinks, and discovering how God thinks through His Word. You meditate on it. You let it work on your thinking about people, about conflict, about money, about relationships, about everything. Over time, your mind starts to bend toward God's perspective rather than the world's, and something begins to happen. You start to prove the will of God. That word prove means to allow. You create the conditions in your own thinking that allow the good, well-pleasing, and complete will of God to work in your life.

Practical Application

Pick one area of your thinking this week where you know the world's perspective has had more influence than God's Word. Find two or three Scriptures that address that area directly and meditate on them daily.

1 Peter 1:14; Ephesians 5:17