Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)
There is to be a constant honing of our views and a recalibrating of our thoughts, attitudes and ways deriving from the ongoing transformation of our hearts and minds through the Word of God. Much akin to the necessary tuning of an instrument or the retooling of a machine or even a small child who needs continual reminding, the Apostle Paul urges us not to follow the world as loud and as glitzy and as beckoning as it may be. Rather, we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds through God’s living and active Word. It is our instruction Book and our guide for all of life. And this would also include joy and peace and contentment which accompanies standing firm in God’s will, mature and fully assured. Our ability to thrive in this world and to take hold of the life that is truly life is found in this wonderful work of transformation.
Because of this, Christians, like the Bereans of the past, must test everything against God’s Word before taking it in as a core value, Amen? We hear and see a plethora of things daily that goes against what God has plainly stated – and God does not ever change. When we are armed with His Truth, it is as a sieve through which we can put all things through. Without it, we stand on sinking sand, blown by every wind and wave of doctrines. If we seek His will and ways we will find it, Amen? God has given us all that we need to be more and more conformed to the image of His Son through the power of the Holy Spirit and it is to be a daily transformation until He takes us home to be with Him. None of us are there yet.
This all begins in the heart because the heart encompasses the mind and we are therefore to continually ask God to search our hearts for things that are not of His will and ways – and He will faithfully bring them to light. We never get to end of this process until we are in heaven. We are to love Him with all our hearts, souls and minds. As Richard Sibbes stated: “What the heart liketh best, the mind studieth most. Those that can bring their hearts to delight in Christ know most of His ways.”
Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. Romans 8:5-8 (NIV)