Scripture

Don’t copy the behaviours and customs of the world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Observation

We are to give our bodies back to God, a holy and living sacrifice. This is the way to worship Him. Our thinking must change from the ways of the world so that God can change us,

Paul exhorts us to be honest in our evaluation of ourselves, and to not think we are better than we really are.

God gives us all different gifts, and we do different things well compared to others. For some the gift is prophecy, for others serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading or kindness. Which ever of these gifts we have, we should use them to the best of our ability and for the glory of God.

Application

We should not copy the behaviour and the customs of the world.

This is a process of learning God’s ways and putting behind us the world’s ways. Every culture has its good points and bad points; that is points of agreement with God’s ways and points of rebellion against God’s ways.

Western culture is obsessed with sex, possessions and personal glory or pride. Increasingly, with identity politics gaining traction, we are encouraged to judge people by the colour of their skin or by their sexual identity.

We are to put all of this aside, taking on the values of God’s kingdom. We are to live lives that exemplify both God’s love and His holiness. Effectively, we have to lie down on the altar and let God kill our old nature.

As we co-operate with the Holy Spirit, we discover that we become more and more like Jesus in attitudes, thoughts and actions.

Prayer

Please help me, Lord, in this process of changing my behaviour and actions to line up with your ways. It is not easy, but I thank you for the grace I need to change my thinking. Amen.