Romans 12:2 says “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect”.
Look again at what that scripture says. “And do not be conformed to this world”….. The Holy Spirit would not have had Paul pen this if it wasn’t possible for us to be conformed to this world even though we are new creations in Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:12 says in the NLT “And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us”.
Now that’s a powerful truth statement. Did you miss the part where it said “so we can KNOW the wonderful things God has FREELY given us”? That’s a great promise, “so we can know”. The problem comes in when we first don’t believe that we can know and then when the un-renewed mind can’t receive what we can freely know. That being the part that says “wonderful things God has freely given us”.
Now I don’t know about you, but when scripture says something like “so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us”, I want to go and find out what those wonderful free things are. I don’t want somebody standing up front telling me something different from what scripture promises. Besides it said the wonderful things God has freely given, so I want to find those things.
You see, everything in the world is based on performance and competition, but everything in God’s Kingdom is based on His promises and goodness. Religion continues to hammer away at us to perform. It’s what you have to or need to do. It’s obeying a set of man-made rules. Time to renew your minds to Kingdom purposes.
God is a promise keeper not just a promise maker. So, when you study the scriptures you’ll find great promises from God that seem almost too good to be true. Get your wrong believing in check and line up your believing with the way God sees things and with His promises. They are yours without condition. Just receive.
I like to use Romans 8:1 to illustrate just how difficult it was for the translators into King James Version to accept what was being said. Here it is in the KJV first.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
Now here it is in the NAS.
“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Notice the difference? Actually the NAS has it more correct. The words “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” that are included in the KJV do not appear in the original Greek text. The translators just could not believe that the statement made had no conditions associated with it. They just couldn’t leave it alone and accept that there’s no condemnation for those of us who have trusted and believed in Jesus Christ. Now I can’t be too hard on the translators, because right now in this time there are scores of Christians who have the same problem believing the gifts God has freely given us. Time to renew your minds.
The enemy is continuously at work to keep us focused on stress, anxiety, worry, performance, obedience to tradition, and other distractions that will make us ineffective to further the kingdom. That’s being conformed to this world. Just look around, the people of this world are stressed out. It’s schedules to keep, meetings to attend, deadlines to adhere to, and so much to do that they don’t even have time to enjoy what they are working so hard to gain. Now don’t get under condemnation regarding this. The Holy Spirit knew this would be the case, that’s why He inspired this writing.
Along with the warning, He gives us the answer with a promise. He says “but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”. In other words, focus on the way God sees things. Change your thinking from worldly thoughts to kingdom thoughts.
Bill Johnson says “The key to spiritual transformation is the renewing of the mind”. We do not need anymore information. We’ve got that coming to us in in overwhelming numbers. What we need is revelation.
The renewed mind is in the exact right position to receive the promise contained in this verse. That promise is “ so that YOU may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect”. It is extremely difficult for us to receive the truth, that God has all confidence and faith in us, to the point He would empower us to PROVE what His will is.
Remember that God sees us for what we truly are, not for what we appear to be like. We have listened to the world tell us we have to do this and we have to do that. “Now that you’re attending this church, you need to bring your tithes and offering here to support the work of this ministry”. Oh yeah? What is the work of this ministry. Making sure the building fund gets big enough to buy a new campus, when you can’t even fill the seats of the one you’ve got? Making sure there’s enough money in the coffers so the staff can take all those mission trips to various places in foreign countries while the people right in the neighborhood are starving for the truth? What about paying someone’s rent when they’re in need? What about feeding a family when they’ve hit a rocky point in life? NO. The first thing the “church” does is check and see if they attend the “church” and if they are tithers. Well, no they’re not tithers, they’re broke. Feed them!!!
Why do we need a church council to decide if we feed a starving family? Better question. Why do we need to send our money to a committee at a church who decides how to dole it out properly. I just wonder what would happen if all of a sudden the 501(c)3 exemption for churches was removed and people’s “contributions” were no longer tax exempt. Do you think the intake of moneys would be reduced?
Besides, we don’t believe we need to go to a priest and confess our sins, so why do we believe we have to entrust our giving into the hands of a committee so they can decide if they want to buy a new sound system, pay for a missions trip, or feed the hungry? Sorry about this rant. I don’t even know why God had me put this in here. It’s His unction, but my words.
I don’t even agree that tithing has any place in the New Testament body of Christ, which is the church. God took me on a journey of study regarding tithing. It was a two year journey. After that two year study, I discovered the truth about tithing. My mind was renewed on this subject. Watch for a blog in the future about tithing.
The truth I discovered was that tithing was an Old Testament practice under the law, and we are not under the law. There’s more to what I discovered like it was for the Jews and not Gentiles, but that’s for another study. Then there are the many confirmations supporting what I discovered from various other truth seekers like Malcolm Smith and Tommy Hawk. Also, E. G. “Jay” Link (President of Stewardship Ministries) has a great writing in their Newsletter regarding Tithes and Offerings. It is on our Facebook ministry page “Shining sWord Ministries”. Let me recommend the book “The Tithe that Binds” by Rory O Moore. He lays out so distinctly how the “church” has become nothing more than an institutionalized corporation, operating like a business rather than a blessing.
I’m re-reading “So You Don’t Want To Go To Church Anymore” by Wayne Jacobsen and Dave Coleman and it lines up with Rory’s book. I mean, we have got the purpose of the church all screwed up because of a wrong mind set. Our minds are not renewed to the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are the church, the body of Christ. When did we begin going to church rather than being the church.
I love this line from the book “So You Don’t Want To Go To Church Anymore”. This statement is made after one of the characters in the book is telling another about all their programs for kids and all they’re doing to prepare them for future Christian life and living. It’s all works oriented performance based stuff that has built into it rewards for the kids. The other character makes this statement.
“What I want you to see is that laced through the wonderful things you have here is a system of religious obligation that distorts it all. Until you see that, you’ll never know what it means to walk with Father”. Then the question is asked “Why’s that”? It’s one of those Ya But ministry questions. The answer, and I love this. “He’s done too much to free you from it, to reward it.” Wow!!! It goes along with the statement I’ve used before. I heard John Sheasby say it and it stuck. “God cannot give you as a reward, that which is already yours through inheritance.” Time to renew our minds.
Don't stop here, but study part 2 of this subject of renewing the mind. Grace and Peace.
