Living in the Spirit

August 24, 2023

Scripture Reading: Romans 12:1-8
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

The grammar checker I use underlined in blue the phrase in the above scripture: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by renewing your minds, so that you may discern God’s will—what is good and acceptable and perfect.  Blue indicates it is not wrong, but it could be written more concisely or with a better word. When I quote scripture, I never take the grammar checkers’ advice. In this case, I use what the NRSV translators chose.  Grammar has changed since my grade school years and even in the last ten years since I started writing these devotions. It is now OK to leave a floating preposition at the end of a sentence.

While it was not the grammar checker’s intent, underlining this sentence drew my attention, making me realize its important message. We are suffering an abundance of influence by our worldview, which superseded conforming to God’s way. In that process, some in society demand that their worldview be interpreted as God’s way. That makes it hard to discern what is of God and what is the worldview being substituted for God’s way. We pick and choose from the Bible what we agree with and easily ignore the uncomfortable messages that interfere with the way of being with which we have become comfortable. We want to hang copies of the Ten Commandments on schoolroom walls and in the public square while lying, stealing, coveting, adultery, and even murder are accepted norms in our world today. Are there any denominations that have not had to deal with sexual misconduct of their clergy? Newspapers are now carrying whole sections dedicated to correcting known lies from quotes of public officials. Our laws now make it legal for student loans to collect so much interest that they may never be paid in the student’s lifetime—that is stealing, in my book.

How do we deal with the takeover of worldviews? First, we must study the Bible, not use it as a weapon. More importantly, we must enter into a deeper communion with God to discern what is right and what is just.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we substitute our worldview with yours. Guide us to find true righteousness and justice.  Amen

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.