Year 2, Day 35: Romans 12

Metamorphosis

Romans 12 begins with an incredible bang.  Romans 12:2 is a great verse: “Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…”  But even before this verse we have another great quote: “present your bodies as a living sacrifice … this is your spiritual act of worship.”  Let’s take these two verses and bring them together as Paul does in this chapter.

Do not be conformed to the world.  Be transformed by the renewal of your mind.  These are tough pieces of advice, especially when I put them in conjunction with a book that I just finished reading: Crazy Love by Francis Chan.  In that book, Francis Chan asks how many of our lives would look any different if Jesus wasn’t real.  In fact, he goes on to ask an even more challenging question.  If we were told that we were going to go to heaven and all of our loved ones, all of our loved pets, and all of our memories would be in heaven but Jesus would not be in heaven – would heaven still be where we wanted to go?  If so, what does that say about what priority we place on Jesus?

These questions are very challenging, but they point us to what Paul is talking about here in Romans 12.  Is Christ something we transform our life into, or is Christ someone that we expect to conform to our life?  Another way of asking this question is this: do we do the things in our life because Christ is in our life or do we simply do the same things we would do without Christ just in a slightly different way because we think we have Christ?

Let’s be very clear here about what Paul is saying.  Paul doesn’t say conform your life to the world.  He doesn’t say “do the same stuff as the rest of the world, just do it with a Christian bent.”  No, Paul says the opposite.  Do not be conformed to the world.  Instead be transformed.  The Greek word that is used for “transformed” is literally metamorphomai (μεταμορφόομαι).  The word that is our root word for metamorphosis is exactly what Paul says we should be in Christ.

Metamorphosis as True Worship

The cool thing is that this is our spiritual act of worship.  So many of us think that worship is one of those things we do once or twice a week.  {Ironically enough, we also think that prayer is something we do only when we say something like “Heavenly Father,” at the beginning.}  Paul is telling us that when we sacrifice our life and we become what God wants – that is our spiritual act of worship.  Worship is not coming to a preset place and going through some preset routine.  Worship is leaving our old life behind as we transform our life and pursue God.

Nothing says “I love you, God,” like letting Him change who we are.  Nothing says “I don’t care about you, God,” like saying we love Him and not being interested at all in transforming who we are.  Want to truly worship God?  Stop being a “Christianized version” of the person that you really want to be in your sinful heart and instead start being the person whom God sees when He looks at you.

Giftedness

Paul then gives us a pretty straightforward section about the fact that God’s followers have different gifts.  This makes sense.  Just like there is no one “true” method of worshipping Him, there is no one “true” way to be a Christian.  The goal is not to become a carbon copy of a spiritual person in your life; the goal is to discern the person that God wants you to be and go out and do it. 

What Does a Christian Look Like, Then?

Paul finishes the chapter by giving us a list of Christian traits.  If you go through this list, one thing that you will notice is that most of the things on the list are responses that are not natural to human nature.

• Be patient in tribulation
• Contribute to the needs of the saints
• Seek to show hospitality
• Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them
• Live in harmony with one another
• Do not be haughty
• Associate with the lowly
• Never be wise in your own sight
• Repay no one evil for evil
• Live peaceably with all
• Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God
• If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink
• Overcome evil with good.

You see, this comes right back to where we began.  God doesn’t want us to conform Him to our lives.  God doesn’t want us to live like the world but with a “Christian twist.”  No, He wants us to live like He wants us to live.  Bless those who persecute you.  Live in harmony.  Associate with the lowly.  Never be wise in your own sight.  Don’t repay the evil.  Take care of your enemies.  The list goes on.

What does God want for us?  He wants the only thing that is good for us: Him and a relationship with Him.  The question left for us to answer then, is this: how interested are we in pursuing God?  Are we interested in leaving our life behind and pursuing the life God wants us to live?  Or are we too interested in our own life and trying to “Christianize it” as much as possible?

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