"Inside Out"

Scripture Passage

Romans 11:1 - 14:23

Scripture Focus

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2 NLT)

Observation

I know—it’s pretty predictable that a guy would land on Romans 12:1-2 as the “scripture focus” from today’s reading. But how can you not? It is Paul’s definitive declaration of how a person ought to respond to God’s great love for Jews and Gentiles alike as expressed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

“Because of all he has done for you” (the motivation), “I plead with you” (the personal appeal) “to give your bodies to God” (the core responsibility and reasonable response of the grateful believer). “This is truly the way to worship him” (as opposed, I think, to much that goes on in the name of worship).

Paul talks about not copying “the behavior and customs of this world”—which tempts me to list a few particulars I see people doing. But it’s much too easy to list the things *others* do and fail to identify the things I do, isn’t it? I really don’t want to be that dishonest in my reading of the Scriptures (or in the Scriptures’ reading of me!).

I find it interesting that the exhortation to not copy “behavior and customs” is followed *not* by a call to embracing other behavior and customs, but by a call to embrace new ways of thinking. Paul speaks to what goes on at the core of a person (heart and mind), and invites me to let God change me from the inside out. Only then, Paul’s words suggest, will I really know God’s will for me (“know” meaning more than just intellectual understanding). Only then will I recognize God’s will for what it is—“good and pleasing and perfect.”

“Father, as much as is within me, I welcome the inside-out transformation You are working to bring to my life.”

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