How quickly our minds stray from seeing Christ as our greatest treasure and become focused once more upon ourselves, our discomforts, our desires, and our self-exalting pride. How do I live out my salvation in such a way that Christ is displayed in all His beauty so that you might also desire Him? I can only do that when I live a life that truly worships Christ with my actions, my life and my spirit. But how do I lay my body as a sacrifice to God and slay this self-exalting heart with all of its desires for self comfort? How do I live in this world and not be conformed to this world? What part can I play in this? If everything is through mercy and grace, am I suppose to do anything to help in this transforming or does God work that out apart from my willing?
Romans 12: I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
There are two actions that are ours to perform.
Action #1: Study your Bible. Never neglect the reading of the Word of God both day and night. How can the Holy Spirit work toward renewing of my mind, if I neglect reading of the word? Within the Bible are not only the commandments which help us to guide our lives; but also there are the covenant promises of God. Yet, the most important part of the Bible is that with the help of the Holy Spirit you will come to see the overwhelming Beauty and Glory of which is Christ, you will begin to see Him as your greatest treasure, you will by thus be humbled by the ugliness of your own heart with it’s unworthiness, and you will fall overwhelmingly in love with Christ. That love will cause your heart to sorrow whenever your thoughts and actions bring Him shame; thereby, causing you to be transformed.
Action #2: Prayer. Do not neglect the times of talking to God and listening to God. God often whispers to you with a soft voice. Pray for God’s wisdom, that He will guide your steps and will squelch those self-exalting thoughts.
Most of what we do in life is spontaneous, so our only hope to display God is to have our minds and hearts grounded, embedded into so much truth of God enabling those spontaneous actions to still display Christ. Yes the transforming work can only be done by the Holy Spirit; but, we must (if able to read at all) be diligent in Studying the Word so that the Holy Spirit might reveal the treasure that is Christ so that all our other desires become nothing compared to our desire to know Him more and we must pray so that the Mind and words of Christ take over blocking out the human thoughts. So simple, so why would we ever neglect these two actions of faith