Romans 12:1-8: Commanded To Allow Transformation

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 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.

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. - Romans 12:1-8

 "...be transformed" is sort of a strange command, a passive imperative. If I say to you "be cleaned" (not "be clean") it would mean that I subject myself to someone else washing me, like the way my socks would if they could choose to be laundered. It is subjecting oneself passively to someone else's actions. So "be transformed" is a command to surrender to being changed by another-in this case-by God. Not just changed-transformed-converted from one thing to another. 

But it gets stranger: be transformed "by the renewing of your mind." So much of what defines our sense of self is encompassed in our mind. When we say that we "changed our mind" it means that the way we valued different potential alternatives has been reshaped so that what was once less valuable is now perceived as more important. God is really messing with our minds! Or rather he is asking us to choose to let God mess with our minds.

Why? Because the changes that God wants for us requires that we are fundamentally changed. Only after this fundamental change will we be able to see what is real. But once we submit ourself to this process "Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Do you want to know what God is doing and why he is doing? You will never be able to see it unless you surrender our very self to God and let him reform us.

Will I like what God does? I guess that depends on how much I trust him to care for me and how much I believe he is capable to being about the result he promises. Can I really be a more loving person? Can I really be wiser? Can I really change? Do I think he will do it the way he says he will. "In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy ... being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

It is one thing for Paul to say it, but Paul can't speak for me. I must say I will "be transformed" according to his promise. I sure hope so, or I will look pretty stupid in dropping my defenses. 

Romans 12: Treating God's People and Enemies With Grace

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 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.

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. - Romans 12

If we get our relationship with God in order, it should change our attitude towards other people. He lists two groups of people specifically, which indicates that these are groups of people that we are prone to struggle with. 

The first group is other Christians. The first paragraph after discussing God's will, Paul says that we should watch our attitude when it comes to serving. Any time we start comparing ourselves, there is a crack through which the devil can niggle away at our good intentions and good will until it is replaced with envy or pride. This can happen with how gifted or talented we are or how influential we are or financial status.  Using these as a dividing wall to keep out  or avoid brothers or sisters who are embarrassing or inconvenient is wrong. It misses the point for which we were given any of these. Truthfully, the hardest people to love are the people who claim to love God and should be friends but are so annoying. Paul says "share". Paul says "associate" Paul says "rejoice" and "mourn" and "live with" 

The second group is enemies. We can expect that some people will act badly towards us, whether out of true animosity or selfishness. Expect it. We can't help that, but we can control how we respond. We don't want to give our enemies an easy launching point for attacking us and leading others to attack us. We do what is right and try to do it in such a transparent way makes it clear it is right. We try, as much as we can, to maintain a good relationship with other people. We don't take something bad that is done against us, and try to do something bad back. Rather we try to find ways to do the best for them. This is working out in real life Jesus' command to love our neighbors. 

Submitting to God's will in my life seems to be less about Bible study and more filled with treating people with grace.