Have you ever asked “How am I supposed to live as a Christian?” The Word of God gives us clear directions and the book of Romans is a great place to start. Romans 12:2 states “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.”
We are to be transformed by renewing of our mind. The word transformed in the Greek is very similar to our word metamorphosis. Referencecenter.com says gives the following as the definition for metamorphosis: “change a physical form, structure or substance especially by supernatural means; a striking alteration in appearance, character or circumstances.” Our mind is to be altered and what we meditate on or think about should be different drastically different from the world, as different from the world as a caterpillar is from butterfly. A caterpillar is a bottom dweller and can only travel a short distance in a long amount of time. A butterfly can sore to great heights and travel large distances in a short period of time. They are polar opposites.
There is an old saying- thoughts lead to actions and actions lead to habits and habits lead to character and character leads to destiny. In order to live out our God given destiny and fulfill His Kingdom purposes for our lives, our thoughts must line up with His Word. We must be careful what we feed our minds through the print material we read, video or television we view, music we listen to, and even our conversation. If we put garbage in, we get garbage out and if we put good things in then good things come out.
We have to live in this world, but we are not to live as the world lives [John 17:16]. As believers in Christ, we are promised in 1 Corinthians 10:13 the Lord will provide us a way of escape when we are faced with the temptations of this world. We do not have to conform to them or give into them. When we are faced with temptations from the world, we are to run from them and run to Jesus. Jesus will always be the way, the truth and the life [John 14:6]. He is our hiding place, our refuge [Psalm 32:7]. We will all face choices from time to time. When the time comes, what will you choose? Jesus chose you first [John 15:16]. When faced with a decision, will you choose Him?