Ready the Ground 8

Romans 12:2

It can be so easy for me to have a bad day. Small things start to go wrong – a broken shoelace, a stubbed toe, a spilled drink – and then suddenly I have a very negative outlook on life. At times like these I have allowed the outside world to crowd in on my inside world.

I have allowed the external and material world to push out the spiritual focus I need to have. When that happens I am distracted and pulled away from my focus on God’s love.

But Paul has guidance for us. What should we NOT do? What should we do? What ability would we then have?

In the parable of the sower some of the seed fell on rocky ground and some fell on ground that had thorns. The rocky ground prevented the seed from taking deep root. The seed that fell among thorns were choked out by the weeds. In each case the situations of life kept the seed from growing strong.

In our own lives we can allow the troubles and challenges in life to prevent our faith and love from growing strong. We allow our fears to crowd in on our faith, and we let our worries fill our hearts and minds so that there is no room for God.

But if we will grow deep in our faith we must hold fast to our faith. We must trust completely in the love and grace of God. When the love of God fills us and when we hold to the strength that God gives us for faith we can grow deeper in our relationship with the Lord.

When we keep our faith and the love of God at the center of who we are then we can resist being transformed by the world around us. We can avoid being derailed, changed, tossed around by the things that surround us. Instead we will be transformed by a new spirit of faith and love.

We will grow deeper in our connection to God and in so doing become better Christians. We will be more connected to God and more able to understand the will of God – that which we should be doing in the kingdom of God.

DAILY CHALLENGE: How can your faith keep you from being influenced by the world around you?

Grow 4

Romans 12:2

We’ve all heard the saying, “If I knew then what I know now.” Looking back at my childhood, teen years, years in college – even the first years of married life – I can sometimes cringe with the foolish decisions I made. I get angry with the “me” of the past and how timid I was, how easily manipulated and intimidated by others.

With maturity and growth – physical, mental and emotional – comes more abilities and a stronger faith. As I grow physically older and more experienced I am more able to deal with the situations of life and I am better at standing firm in the face of adversity.

In his letter to the Romans Paul offers encouragement on spiritual maturity. What should believers NOT do? What should we do? What will we be able to do when we are transformed?

Our faith and our relationship with God is a journey, a growth process. Just like our bodies and minds, our beliefs and spiritual abilities take time to grow and develop.

When we are immature in our faith we can be easily manipulated and led astray. But with time, through experiences and Biblical study, our faith can grow into a deeper maturity. We gain strength and ability in our souls as we move forward in faith, as we stand the trials and challenges in life.

If we can apply ourselves to our spiritual growth, if we can nurture our souls and work to be stronger Christians we can be renewed in our spirit. We can have a stronger faith and greater abilities at living out our faith. We can grow to be more like Jesus in our attitudes and actions.

And with that growth we become more complete. We become more whole as believers. The more mature we grow as believers the closer we come to the perfection Jesus calls for in Matthew 5:48. We become more able to live according to the perfect will of God.

DAILY CHALLENGE: How can your faith be transformed into a more complete faith?

Clearing the Temple 4

Romans 12:2

I began my teaching career in a small, special school for pregnant teen-agers. It was a unique setting – six classrooms and sixty students. And one interesting feature to me was the peaceful nature of all those girls together. I suppose it was a variety of factors that caused it – all the students were girls, it was a small group, the students were from many different school districts, the administration’s attitude was very peaceful.

Even when a new student enrolled in the school, she might have started off mouthy and loud, but in a very short time she would settle in and be as calm and agreeable as all the others. For some reason the setting of that school caused all the students to conform to a more peaceful nature.

In that instance conforming was a good thing. But Paul has something to say about conforming. What should we NOT do? What should we do?

It can be too easy and too tempting sometimes to conform to the patterns of the world around us. We see other people living lives of sin and recklessness, and we may want to do the same. We see other people caught up in a life of selfish ambition, and we may be tempted to want more and more at any cost.

But as Christians we need to guard against allowing the patterns of the material, human world affect who we are. We need to resist becoming simply one more person in this ocean of lost souls.

How do we do that? We do it by renewing our minds, clearing away all the human and material influences which surround us and tug at us. We need to clear our own temple, the temple in our hearts. We must get rid of all those desires and temptations which distract us from doing what God would have us do.

We must renew our way of thinking, setting our minds and our thoughts and our hearts on those things above. We take on a new way of thinking – thinking in Godly terms, thinking on holy matters, and desiring to do the good and perfect will of God.

DAILY CHALLENGE: How can you allow yourself to be transformed?