Romans 12:1-2 English Standard Version
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
The mind is a bodily part. In this sacrifice Paul is not asking us to commit mental suicide. This is a transformation, forming a new way of looking at the data. He is asking us, without being specific in how it is done, to look at the data from God’s point of view.
The testing of our faith will produce results that are within the will of God or going against His will. We will learn by making mistakes. The issue more than anything in this sacrificial effort is to keep looking at things differently than the way we have in our past that didn’t work.
We often overlook Paul’s encouragement “by the mercies of God”. He doesn’t punish us for wrong thinking, He exposes erroneous thinking by allowing the Holy Spirit to speak truth to us rather than slapping us around for wrong thinking.
As we speak these truths sent to us by God we should remember this message of grace. We did not get it right the first time we tried. That is why we need to return to the Word to hear by faith what God is trying to reveal.
It is not that easy to read His Word with a blank slate, as if we had never heard it taught before. His Word does not change but as we are transformed, from grace to grace, we will discover that God’s will comes into focus as what is good, or acceptable, or even perfect.
Good was fine when we were babes, acceptable was fine when we were children and perfect is discovered in maturity. His will did not change, we do. A baby has limited abilities and God does not expect the same thing from them as He does those who have matured.
One important aspect of revisiting the scriptures is not to believe you got everything out of the Word just because you have read it before.
1 Corinthians 8:2 And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.
What God calls us to do will change as we change. His will is personal and applicable to a moment and will change as we are transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Don’t get stuck in the rut created by repetitive thinking. Listen in case He has new instructions.