Not Conformed... Transformed... Renewed

This week in my online Bible study Stressed Less Living, our Bible verse was Romans 12:2, "And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed to the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

A lot of the girls have been trying verse mapping, so I thought I'd give it a try.  I didn't go into nearly as much depth as some of them did, but the lesson on Monday focused on three key words in the verse... Conformd, Transformed, and Renewed... so those are what I focused on.

Conform... "act in harmony, comply, act in accordance to standards." Our world is one of conformity. Everyone wants the definition of normal and wants to abide by that.  I can remember as a teenager, I did not want to stand out from the crowd. Acceptance was a must.  What is accepted in the world today is not always acceptable to God... far from it, in a lot of cases. And here we are told not to conform... not to fit in.  "Be not conformed."  Be is an action word, full of lots of punch for just two letters. Don't conform... don't be the same... don't accept the world's standards.

So what are we to be?  Transformed.  Transform means, "to change, transfigure." When we transform something, we make it something different (am I the only one that just saw a car turn into a robot?... Transformers... more than meets the eye...) Anyhow, we are called to be transformed, changed, different...

And how do we do that? Through renewal.  Oh, y'all. Renewal.. isn't that such a great word? Meaning "change, restore, begin again." Don't we all need renewal? Ever day? Sometimes more than once in the day.

He calls us to be transformed by the renewal of our mind. Our mind is our intellect. It is where thought processes occur.  How do we renew our mind? Set it on Him.  Think on good things. Count our blessings. Look to Him always.

It's a constant process.

On the back of my verse card, I wrote "Before sin, we were with God." Think about that... before Adam and Eve took the bite, we were in communion with God in a perfect place. Our mind knew nothing but wonder, nothing but goodness.  We did not know stress or illness or hatred or jealousy. 

Then sin happened.  We were all born into sin, all sinners, all short of His glory.  He came and made a way, though, so that we could be transformed, changed... and renewed, or made new again... into that state of communion with God.  Transforming so we can more like Him, renewing day by day. 

 "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day." 2 Corinthians 4:16

Because His grace is sufficient.