Transformed

Verse Mapping!!  I can't get enough of it.  This is the first time in my life that I have ever done this.  Why have I not heard about this before or if someone taught it....why didn't I attend the class or pay attention?  Better yet, this should be Lutheran 101;)

This week we studied Romans 12:2.  Although I used my standard NIV bible, I have really enjoyed Biblegateway.com to bring some insight to other versions.  The versions that I am ranting and raving about these last 4 weeks are "The Voice" and "The Message".  Both versions put it in simple terms that anyone can understand.  Well, that I can understand.  Don't get me wrong...I love my NIV, but there are times when you just want the words on the page to really speak to you, and this week they did.

The Voice ~ 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.

Transformation is a process, not a single event.  In our society today, we all want the quick fix.  Instantaneous gratification.  God's want us for the duration - long-term, just not for the moment.  We have to be willing to go through the process with Him and for Him.  Only then will we be able to transform.

The Message ~ Romans 12:1-2
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

We have been taught that God formed us in the womb.  He knew exactly what he wanted from us as human beings.  He gave us free will to make our own choices but only to be used in that which would lead to moral & spiritual growth.  In the NIV version it states "His perfect will" meaning that no improvements can be made on the will of God.  It is perfect.

From today forward I will not conform to the evil and corruption of this world.  I will embrace what God has done for me so that I can begin to transform from the inside out.