this verse always *got* me:
Romans 12:2 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. (nkjv)
a week or two ago i heard it in a different version (i don't know which), but the notes i scribbled and someone read it goes,
"Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think."
and.... well, more of the same. i gotta renew my mind, i gotta change the way i think. BRAIN, STOP THINKING THAT!!!! grr, not good thoughts go away, bye-bye now! i gotta change the way i think! stop thinking that! or that! OR THAT!!!! ...gee, i want a renewed mind, but BAH, i can't do it!
well, therein laid the problem, and i didn't realize it, until a couple of days ago when the sheet i had written that verse down on again popped up in front of me (yes, it jumped out at me from it's hiding spot under all the junk on my table!), and i read what else i had written down at the same time (so He'd actually plunked it into my heart then!)...
"*I* let God transform me by (me) changing my thoughts? ...or... I give permission to/ask/let God transform me by (HIM) changing my thoughts"...?!
i always read it to mean that HE changes my mind by ME doing it.
and *THAT* is what's been percolating in me... who's actually doing it? ... and who am i actually looking *to*, to get it done?
and i realized a was looking to myself to get it done... i do the work, He anoints it, yes, but i do the work.
oy, this is where unclear language can get us, eh? i thought, when forcibly change what i'm thinking, i am thereby 'letting' God do what He needs to do! ... but the causation behind action in the entire phrase is 'let God, let God'.... breaking it down it could be written, 'let God transform you into a new person, by letting God change the way you think.'
AHHHH.... now it makes sense.
*whacks head*... it seems so obvious now, but it sure didn't before. that's the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit, for ya.
so today i looked it up in matthew henry's commentary, and this one part stuck out:
This transformation is here pressed as a duty; not that we can work such a change ourselves: we could as soon make a new world as make a new heart by any power of our own; it is God’s work, Eze. 11:19; 36:26, 27. But be you transformed, that is, "use the means which God hath appointed and ordained for it.’’ It is God that turns us, and then we are turned; but we must frame our doings to turn, Hos. 5:4.i love that last bit: "It is God that turns us, and then we are turned; but we must frame our doings to turn." ...it reflects the interplay between God's sovereignty and our actions. i looked up the verse in Hosea, too:
"They do not direct their deeds Toward turning to their God, For the spirit of harlotry is in their midst, And they do not know the Lord."He doesn't charge that they didn't TURN, but instead charges that they did not direct their actions TOWARD turning... ie. 'framing their doings to turn', as matthew henry said.
so, i aim towards/prepare for/turn towards ...BEING turned.
therefore, i am to aim toward God changing my thinking... not me.
aaahhhhh.....
this is why i love thinking about God's predestination/sovereignty.... not that i am not free to disobey - or am not called to action on my part - but because it ascribes the *POWER* to effect change and work in our stubborn souls the things we couldn't possibly do ourselves solely to GOD, and Him alone, and never to us.
i mean, if we were able to do something that God can't - or even if we can just hinder His power, or exert more control than Him - then who is *really* the "god"?
there is a basic, and easy principle here. Ive always puled it from my fave proverbs - "What a man treasures, he will store in his heart" followed by "From the over flow of the heart, the mouth speaks"
ReplyDeleteWhat we talk about the most, *thats* really what we treasure. Its what we think about, and dwell upon the most.
So if we spend our time, energy, on God, prayers, the scriptures - than slowly - we are "brainwashed" by God Himself. SO that when we open our mouths, when we have a thought - it becomes His.
I highly doubt that this will finish to a completion in this life time, but when we "seek first the kingdom of God" than it truely does come.
This is why worry is such a "sin". It takes our meditation off of God, and places it onto other things - if meditation is a repeated thought, than what else is worry but a negative meditation?
This is why fear is a "sin". All we should fear is God, because what we fear, we give power to. Power to change our behaviour and our reactions.
The things we worry about, and the things we fear - we give the power of God to.
Blashphemy.
And so yes, we turn- and yes, the cause of turning is Him.
And yes, He will turn us.
But it *is* up to us to read, to meditate, to pray. Day by day, minute by minute.
even for me to even *want* to read, meditate, and pray, He has to turn my heart, my mind, and my deeds... my point is that, in my mind, the emphasis is usually placed on OUR part of the equation.... which then feels like *pressure* to *come through* on my part, and if i don't come through *enough*, God then won't come through.... so then i have to refocus, focus, FOCUS... its HIM not me!!!! get that through (my) thick skull, girl! ...cuz all i gotta do is want Him to work it in me... and if i don't want it, be willing for Him to work the wanting into me! ...yeah. it's my inner mental landmines, i'm learning how to navigate around them....
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