Do not conform 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 12:2
Romans 12:2 emphasises the importance of not conforming to the ways of the world, but rather allowing God to transform us through the renewal of our minds. When we allow God to transform us, we are able to live out His will for our lives, which is good, pleasing, and perfect.
This transformation can have a positive impact on not only our own lives but also on the world around us, as we become more like Christ and reflect His love and character to others.
Renewal of the mind is a process that requires intentional effort and a willingness to cooperate with God’s transformative work in our lives.
When a mind is renewed, life is then transformed. And when a life is transformed, then society is transformed. But it starts with the renewing of the mind. That then brings transformation.
What is Transformation?
Transformation is a marked change in form, in nature and in appearance. When we say something has been transformed, it means that there is a marked change in its form, in its nature, and in its appearance.
When you are a child of God and you come into the kingdom of God, God wants you to be renewed, to have your mind renewed, and you are transformed in nature and in appearance, a radical change so that when people look at you, they’ll say, who is this person?
When you go back to your friends who you used to drink with, they’ll say, who is this person? Do you know why? Because your thinking has changed. The way you speak has changed. Your attitude towards life has changed them. Who you are has changed.
Because you are transformed. You have been radically changed. It’s important to remember that transformation is a lifelong process and requires a continual commitment to seeking God and His will for our lives.
Many of us have been saved, but we’ve never changed the way we think. They have never gone through the process of transformation to become like Jesus.
Many people have never subjected themselves to the power of the word so that they formed in their minds that they change the way their emotions, their thinking, and many people actually want to preserve who they are.
What Does Kingdom Transformation Look Like in the Bible?
After the disciples had walked with Jesus, when people looked at them, they recognized that they looked like Christ. And then they called them Christians because of how they operated, what they looked like, their attitude, their nature, and their appearance, they now look like Christ.
And they began to call them Christians. “Christians” was a nickname, and now we call ourselves Christians. I am a Christian, but the disciples never called themselves Christian. They just got transformed and when people looked at them, they said, you are a Christian.
Will people in your workplace look at you, will they say you are a Christian if you don’t tell them,? The people you meet will they say you are a Christian? When you go in Pick and Pay when you are just shopping there when you are in the queue and standing there, will the person in front of you and behind you, and beside you look at you and say, surely you must be a Christian.
Repentance means changing the way you think. Many people have repented enough to go to heaven, but they fall short of seeing the kingdom. Think about the children of Israel. They leave Egypt, but whilst they are going to the promised land, guess what they’re talking about? In their mind, they never removed the onion and the garlic. God delivered them in a powerful way and He was ready to release them quail from heaven, manna water from a rock, but they were still thinking of onion and garlic from Egypt.
Many believers have maintained a worldview. What is a worldview? It’s a particular philosophy of life or conception of the world. A collection of attitudes and values and stories and expectations about the world around us, which inform our every thought and action. It is how a culture works out in an individual. What you see, that view that you have determines the culture that you have, so it determines your level of transformation. But there is what is called the kingdom view, and it’s simplified as on earth as it is in heaven.
Matthew 28, v 19 to 20 says here, Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name.
What Should Kingdom Transformation Look Like in my Life?
God never sent us to make believers. He sent us to make disciples. Discipleship in the Christian sense is the process of making someone become like Christ. The disciple of Christ is to become like Christ in everything. We need you to become like Christ left to right. In your conversation, in your walk. In your finances, in your business, in your career, in your relationships, in your marriage, everything you need to become like Christ.
The Romans were looking for the Messiah, the Messiah is coming. The Messiah is coming. And the Messiah comes and is born in Bethlehem, He’s a Nazarene and he is born in a manger, the one who’s coming to deliver us from the mighty Roman, and born as a baby. God will always do things that will offend your mind. Even Nathaniel in all his purity is sitting there and he thought, we have found him. He says, what good can come out of nothing. There’s nothing good that comes out of Nazareth. But that’s where the Messiah is coming and it’s counterintuitive.
The kingdom is contrary to common sense, what people in the world view, common sense. The message of the kingdom of God is indeed counterintuitive to the ways of the world. In the world, greatness is often associated with power, wealth, and status, but in the kingdom of God, greatness is found in serving others and becoming like little children.
Jesus calls us to a higher standard of living, one that requires us to set aside our own desires and priorities and focus on serving Him and others. As we seek to live out this counterintuitive kingdom, we will experience transformation and become more like Christ.
some of these people were not believing him and were angry. They thought if he was coming to deliver people from the jaws of the Roman people he would’ve come with a mighty army and so forth. But guess what? He comes with 12 disciples. And then he comes with them, they’re fish fishermen, and he says, come boys I’ll teach you how to be fishers of men. And then he goes with them.
They’re trying to use human wisdom to detach and come to a conclusion. Through human wisdom getting to know Christ is foolishness. He has used our foolish preaching to serve those who believe it’s foolish to the Jews who ask for signs from heaven and it is foolish to the Greeks who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended cause they’re looking for a great, mighty, mighty general to die and to live for them
Like Peter, many people saw your weaknesses. You even denied Jesus yourself. And many people saw it you if you think we didn’t see it. It’s recorded here. They even recorded that you even curse with unpredictable words. It’s recorded that, Peter even left him and went fishing. Peter denies Jesus. Peter goes back to fishing and all sorts of things, but on the day when Jesus leaves an instruction and says, tell my disciples and Peter.
The love of Jesus, how relentless he is. He keeps coming back, for our sake. He keeps coming back for you, Peter. The message of the cross is foolish to those who are in it for this, but we who are being saved.
Will You Say Yes to Kingdom Transformation?
In the kingdom of God, for us to leave, we have to die. How does that work for, you know, he says to leave is Christ. I’m caught in a straight to be with you or to be with Christ. And he says a statement that confounds many and he says, to leave you is Christ, but to die is gain.
June 12, v 24. I say unto you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abideth alone. But if you die, it brings it forth.
If you want to live be prepared to die, which means your mind, your thinking, your philosophy. You’ve got to discard it so that you can embrace the kingdom. Unless you’re willing to die to the philosophical thinking of the world you are not going to leave into the kingdom of God.
In the kingdom of heaven. When we eat, we are hungry. It’s the hungry in the kingdom. It’s not those who are satisfied. And the more we encounter him the hungrier we become. We bigger the hungrier. The more we eat, we become hungry. The more we drink, we become even more thirstier for him. That’s the kingdom we live in.
Make a decision today. Say from today, I make a personal decision to subject myself to the teaching of the master so that I can become like a master. I decide to believe I’m moving
