The 40 Day TBC Life Devotion

“Do not be conformed (pushed into its mold) to this world, but be transformed (metamorphosis) by the renewal (renovation) of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2, ESV).

We choose every moment of every day to either become more like God (transformed mind), or more like the world (conformed mind). 
Conforming is like the many Jello molds that decoratively lined the walls of my mom’s kitchen growing up. She had all kinds of shapes and sizes. Simply pour the liquid Jello mix into the mold and the Jello takes the form of the mold . . . BINGO! You have green Jello that looks like a fish. 

Transformation is quite a different thing. It is the inner change that happens from the inside out. It’s a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. Transformation happens in your mind when you take every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5). This means evaluating your thoughts for truth by comparing them with the Bible. If you have “stinkin’ thinkin”, reject the thought and replace it with the truth. For example, you might think that you cannot afford to tithe. Transformation means replacing that thought with the truth of Scripture—Malachi 3:8-12, for example. Your mind will not be transformed if you are not spending time learning from God in His Bible.

This is also how you learn to know the will of God as Romans 12:2 suggests. The renewal of your mind allows you to test and discern the will of God. The phrase “test and discern” is one word in the Greek (dokimos) that means to authenticate something like you would a rare coin. A transformed mind is necessary in order to understand the will of God as 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 indicates, “A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them . . . But we have the mind of Christ.”

“The Christian does not think God will love him because he is good, but that God will make him good because He loves him.” –Martin Luther 

Describe how you can begin to move from conformed to transformed. What is your plan for being in God’s Word on a daily basis?

Dave Samples