With a blog site entitled “Transformative Pursuit,” it was only a matter of time before I brought up one of the most popular verses that contains the word “transform.” This has been on my mind for the past several months and thought it would be a good post for the beginning of the year. The verse is Romans 12:2, which says: “Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”
To be honest, I have circled back to this verse many times but never completed a writing on it. Every time I approach this verse I hope to find some powerful undiscovered truth in what Paul means by “the renewing of your mind.” And every time I come away with the same old answer. I never did a post on this verse because I wanted it to mean more than it did. Now I realize that I have been diminishing just how powerful and amazing the message is here that Paul is conveying. To unpack this verse I first want to work backward. Paul tells us we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that “you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God” So first we must ask, what is the will of God?
In the Bible, the will of God has two meanings: we have God’s secret will and God’s revealed will. So which is Paul speaking of here? God’s secret will is just that, secret, and often hidden from us until it comes to pass. This secret will, also known as God’s will of decree, is God’s Sovereign will that always comes to pass. What God decrees to happen, happens. Whether good or bad, if God wills it, then it will happen. This is the will of God that most Christians desire to know. We want to know what God will do, how he is going to do it, and why he is going to do it. But this is not the will of God that Paul is speaking of here. God’s will of decree is not ours to know. As Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “the hidden things belong to the LORD our God.” God may choose to reveal some of his secret will but ultimately this is not the will of God that we are called to discern. Paul is calling us in Romans 12:2 to renew our minds so that we might discern God’s revealed will. So what is God’s revealed will?
The latter part of Deuteronomy 29:29 gives us insight into God’s revealed will. It says, “The hidden things belong to the LORD our God, but the revealed things belong to us and our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of the law.” God’s revealed will is given to us so that “we may follow all the words of the law.” This means that God’s revealed will is revealed to us through his commands. This is why God’s revealed will is often called God’s will of command. So if we are to discern God’s revealed will then we must know his commands. And if we are to know God’s commands, then we must spend time in His word. And if we are to spend time in God’s word, then we must have the Holy Spirit within us so that we may rightly interpret the words of God ( 1 Cor. 2:6-16). This “renewing of our mind” Paul speaks of can be summarized like this: read your Bible and pray!
This is the powerful truth of Romans 12:2 that I had diminished and neglected to write on until now. We often hear the command to read our Bible and pray. Growing up in church I heard those commands almost weekly. Because of this, we start to view Bible reading and prayer as a spiritual chore instead of the incredible privilege that they both are. When we read the Bible we are reading the words of God. We are reading the words of our maker. Words that are full of life, transformative, comforting, convicting, and perfectly true. When we pray we are communicating with God. We are talking to our savior and He listens! May we never lose sight of how awesome it is to be able to speak to God in prayer and be able to hear the words of God in Scripture!
The way of this world is wicked. As Proverbs 4:19 says, “the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.” If we are not careful then we are likely to conform to the way of the world and walk in darkness. But if we constantly renew our mind in prayer and scripture, then God’s word will be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Psalm 119:105). We must seek God daily and allow Him to transform us by the renewing of our minds so that we might discern his will and obey Him. This is not a new discovery or deep insight that most people want to hear but it is the tried and true path to transformation. We must read God’s word and pray! This year let us not view Scripture reading and prayer as an item on our spiritual to-do list, but as the profound privilege that it is!
