Romans 12:2; Do not allow this world to mold you in its own image. Instead, be transformed from the inside out by renewing your mind. As a result, you will be able to discern what God wills and whatever God finds good, pleasing, and complete. Perhaps the most informative, captivating, enthralling, and mutually spiritually maturing series I have ever preached has to be on Romans 12. As we all know, we are all spiritual. In fact God has hard-wired spirituality into our DNA. Now there is much interest in the world today regarding things spiritual, but the key is that it is not enough for us to search for spirituality, we must pursue “true” spirituality. The Romans 12 series is a starting place in beginning to define this and what an authentic disciple looks like in the 21st century, stripping away all the clutter, and helping us to rediscover the essence of the Christian life, and our true identity in Christ. Think about this verse with me. What does Paul say about how we overcome the world system? Well, firstly, “do not allow this world to mold you into its own image.” What does that mean? With immediate affect stop allowing yourself to be molded by the influence and pressures of this present world system. Why? Because we are called to be separate from the world’s values and system which seek to seduce us from our love for Christ by pleasure, through possessions, positions, and popularity. How? By being “transformed from the inside out by renewing your mind”, changing your inward thinking and outward behaviour with the Holy Spirit’s renewing process. I guess the question you and I need to ask ourselves is this one; “am I being shaped more by the world than by the Word of God”? You see, transformation can only be realised “by the renewing of your mind” and by being centred on the truth of the Word of God and who you are (your identity) in Christ, because, only then, will you be able to mature spiritually. The song I suggest that you watch below by Francesca Battistelli, tells an amazing story. She has this to say about what led her to write it; “For me, I know my whole life I have struggled with believing what other people say about me. To listen to the voices of the world in our culture and people in general, whether it is good or bad, I put too much stock in what other people think and say about me. At the end of the day, it really doesnt matter. My mom had this saying growing up: what you think of me is none of my business. Its so hard to live like that, because we want to know what they are going to call us. Do they think were pretty, smart, funny, and cool and worth their time? At the end of the day, none of that matters. We all need to be reminded that God calls us forgiven, chosen, wanted and loved. As this song implies, the name that matters is the one that God gives us. 1 Samuel 16:7; “But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. So what does that mean? Well, no matter what you do in life or your ministry, the call is to celebrate the fact that God calls us “loved and forgiven and chosen and free and beautiful”, and he knows your name. What do you learn from someone who is prepared to talk, write, and sing about ‘real-life’? For me, the call is for you to forget what the world says, because, as Francesca suggests, that doesn’t matter anyway, and find your true identity in Christ. Gods Word assures us to trust in what God says about us, no matter how we feel about ourselves. He knows us intimately, and loves us so much that he came to die for us. Francesca continues saying that; “This song is a celebratory anthem about what it means to have hope in Christ, and that if you know Christ, you dont have to be ashamed or beat yourself up, because you belong to someone greater. It is a song that talks about how, when you look in the mirror and think you wouldnt choose yourself, and about the insecurities we all have. Thats a common and universal feeling that we all have, as we wonder why God would call us or use us or name us. For me, especially, the song plays on what I do for a living: I dont need my name in lights Im famous in my Fathers eyes. Even in this job that I have, this song reminds me that no matter how I did today as a Christian, thats not what it is about. Rather than think about how I am ministering the Gospel or beating myself up and wonder why God is using me at all, the good thing is that it doesnt matter. God can use anybody who is available to Him. I cant do any of this in my own strength. He brought me here, and He gets the glory. That applies no matter what you do in life. This song is about celebrating what God calls us. He calls us loved and forgiven and chosen and free and beautiful. He knows our names. There really is something amazing about that. If you think about the billions of people on earth and everything God has created, it is amazing how He specifically knows you by name and He loves you so much. I hope people feel encouraged when they hear it.”Listen to her song in this context. https://youtube/watch?v=mWNwQg3xoJw
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 04:06:53 +0000
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