A different way to live.

ROMANS 12 : 1 - 2 NKJV

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

Paul is exhorting the church to surrender their lives to doing God's will, no longer being conformed to the ways of this world, but being transformed into a new person who is only Godly. 

Firstly how do we know how worldly we are? What is it to conform to the ways of this world? If we need transforming then how did we become worldly in the first place? How can a person be transformed by the renewing of their mind? Are we to be brainwashed? 

Let us first look at how a person learns and where they learn from. As a baby we are dependents, we need parents to do basically everything for us and as we grow we become inquisitive wanting to understand how everything is why it is. We ask lots of questions and make assumptions of our own. We grow up a bit more and we watch the television or read and we learn all about things, whether the information is correct or not. For instance, how much of what we see and hear in this world is the truth. On top of that we also view what we see and hear through our own lenses, which also may not be truthful, possibly because those that taught us did not know the truth or we made incorrect assumptions. This means that much of what we believe to be true could well be false.  Deception is untruth, fiction is untruth, pretending is untruth, trickery is untruth, fantasy is untruth, joking is untruth in many cases, lying is untruth and so on. So how do we obtain the truth?

2 TIMOTHY 2 : 23 -26 NKJV

23 But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. 24 And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, 25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, 26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.

JOB 28 : 28 NKJV

28 And to man He said,
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
And to depart from evil is understanding.’”

Therefore to come to repentance will produce the truth in us. How then are we to be corrected, so that we can be blessed and find the truth? 

ROMANS 8 : 12 - 14 NKJV

12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

Paul is calling our, conformed to this world person, our flesh. So as Christians we can no longer be people of untruth but we are to be transformed into the people of the truth. He says that The Holy Spirit will empower us to put to death that old person.

1 JOHN 2 : 27 NKJV

27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

The apostle John here is speaking about The Holy Spirit teaching you what is true, that you may obey God. Therefore if we ask The Holy Spirit to teach us the truth, then He will. Just as we were little children and we have been taught the ways of this world, we are to become the children of God and ask Him lots of questions and trust that He will teach us the truth. The more inquisitive that we are the more truth that we can obtain, the more Godly we can become and the more intimate we can be with God.

MATTHEW 18 : 3 NKJV

 3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

This is not a five second process but a journey. It is the journey of salvation, being saved from being the person of untruth into the person of the truth. We would all like to believe that we know the truth, but if you ask God to show you all of the untruth in your life He will. We all need to ask in order to receive the truth, therefore if you do not ask you will not receive it.

MATTHEW 7 : 7 NKJV

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

PROVERBS 2 : 1 - 5 NKJV

My son, if you receive my words,
And treasure my commands within you,
2 So that you incline your ear to wisdom,
And apply your heart to understanding;
3 Yes, if you cry out for discernment,
And lift up your voice for understanding,
4 If you seek her as silver,
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
5 Then you will understand the fear of the Lord,
And find the knowledge of God.

JAMES 4 : 6 NKJV

6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”

Therefore those who already believe that they are not in need of being taught the truth are proud and will not receive it because they will not humble themselves before God and ask Him for it. The longer that a person goes on as a believer without asking, the more that, that  person can formulate their own opinions of what the truth is. It is good for all of us to continually ask God to teach us His Truth that we may obey Him. Being the "experienced christian" can be a dangerous place of pride. The Pharisees were like this and they had Jesus crucified. I urge everyone to go on asking, seeking and knocking.