“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.” Romans 12:2 NKJV
Have you thanked God for everything He has done for you, however small or comparatively insignificant, but ultimately meaningful? And do you with a grateful heart give consistent thanks and praise for the large, even unspeakable happenings God is accomplishing for and with you?
Three of us who were members of the Mt. Carmel High School a cappella choir enrolled in Greenville College at the same time and auditioned for the college a cappella choir. The other two were accepted, but I was rejected. The Greenville choir went on a national tour. Meanwhile, I joined the men’s glee club and we toured across that section of Illinois presenting concerts in high schools. The director had a marvelous bass voice, and volunteered to be a vocal coach for me personally. As a result, I was invited to sing solos in the Greenville College chapel multiple times.
Members of the Greenville College band formed a pep band, and marching beside me was Jim Taylor, playing baritone as I played trombone. Only later did I learn that Jim Taylor was actually J. Hudson Taylor III, grandson of the founder of the China Inland Mission.
The daughter of the former pastor of the First Baptist Church of Greenville, Martha Riley, invited me to go Christmas caroling with the church youth group. I learned that Martha was the granddaughter of W.B. Riley, pastor of Minneapolis First Baptist Church and founder of Northwestern Schools, who had appointed Billy Graham to succeed him as president of Northwestern.
From 8th grade forward, I played trombone. When I asked the band director if I could try out to be drum major for the high school band, his answer was “No. You need to continue marching front row gutter, because in reality, George, you lead the band. The band lines up left to right with you. You sound the first note and take the first step and the entire band follows you.”
When our daughter Tami was in grade school, she chose French horn as her instrument to learn to play. When we purchased her horn, the owner of the music store said, “Young lady, this French horn will take you a long way. You made a wise choice.” What a prediction. As a student at Liberty University, Tami was a member of the marching band and had the privilege of going to New York City to march with the Liberty band at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, televised nationally.
“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.” Psalm 100:4-5 NKJV
Is your renewing mind transforming you? Are you easily disappointed or even disgruntled when things don’t go the way you had hoped they would? Romans 12:3 provides an anecdote for negative thinking: “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.”
Pray without ceasing, giving thanks to God for what He has done, is doing, and will do, as you continue to seek God’s will. What are you doing with the gifts God has entrusted to you, and how are you developing them?
When you make the very personal decision to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,” you are “born again” – old things are passed away and all things have or can become new.
As part of God’s church, “we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them,” Romans 12 continues to explain.
Discover what God has entrusted to you. Form a prayer partnership with one or more committed followers of Christ, and ask God how you and they together are using what God has entrusted to you, to invite and encourage every possible person to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” and be transformed.
Together let’s “go to a world that is dying, His perfect salvation to tell,” keeping our minds on Jesus.
May God bless your transformed, renewing mind, as you share God’s ABCs of salvation.