What other response is there other than to offer the totality of our being in service to God as 'living sacrifices' in view of His mercy through Christ!! This is true worship to our God, holy and pleasing to Him. What other response can there be towards the One who had every right to crush us because of our sin, and yet chose to have such compassion upon his fallen world.
In offering ourselves in the totality of our beings to God, Witmer (1983, pp. 487-488) offers some helpful insights into this passage. He writes that Christians must not conform to the pattern of this 'present evil age' (Gal 1:4, cf. Eph 1:21), rather we must be transformed (keep on being transformed) through the renewing of our minds. Here the mind is seen as the control centre of one's attitudes, thoughts, feelings, and actions. As one's mind is made new by the spiritual input of God's word, prayer, and Christian fellowship, his or her lifestyle keeps on being transformed. All this can only be enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit as God works in us to will and to act according to His good purpose!
As believers are transformed through the renewing of their minds, they will then be enabled to ascertain what the will of God is as they travel through this life. And as experience tells us, His will is always good, pleasing, and perfect!
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Rob,
ReplyDeleteWhile working through 8:1-17 I have been struck by the connection with 12:1-2, e.g., "set your mind on the things of the Spirit" (8:5) thus ensuring that "we walk in the newness of life" (6:4). Perhaps after chs 9-11, Paul is picking up a thread again. If this is the case then the renewing of the mind suggests that we are to "exist in the Spirit" (8:5) and live "in Christ" (8:1) - emersed in his reality - rather than simply "learn new things" or "think new thoughts."
Stephen