Romans 12:2
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2 NIV)
One word Paul uses to describe God’s will is acceptable, or some translators have it, pleasing. Success and overcoming temptation is pleasing. Alright, but to whom? Who do you think Paul had in mind as being pleased?? God? Yourself? Others? Bible scholars may debate which of those Paul had in mind, but I would say all of the above! To overcome temptation and to do the good thing brings joy all around. It’s a victory celebration! To fail and not do the goodwill of God is pleasing only to unholy men and unholy spirits. To you and to God and to all good people it’s distressing.
When you put on display the perfect will of God in your life, you demonstrate your ultimate goal which is to be “flawless, without defect,” and to have reached our appointed end goal, and purpose. These are just other ways of saying – to be like Jesus. And we’ll celebrate that level one day. But not now. What can we fulfill in this life? His will is that we demonstrate maturity and obedience. And when we do, what a celebration of the glorious will of God! It’s perfect! And that’s very pleasing and very good.
What a wonder he is! Our inside companion does glorious things in us all the time! But what he does inside isn’t all. He prays for us when our prayers fall short (Romans 8:26- 27). And He engineers all the circumstances of our lives towards the same goal of transforming us into his likeness (verses 28- 29). Furthermore, when it comes to the very weapons of the Spirit, it is He who enables us to pray effectively. It is God, the Spirit who gave us His Word, and it is He who enables us to understand and appropriate that Word in the face of testing. He is the one who gives us the church too, and he who enables us to live in the kind of relationship with other Christians that will make us overcomers together.
In regeneration, “everything” becomes new, that is, the Spirit changed something about every part of you – the way you think, how you feel, and what you choose. Here’s a brief checklist of things that change so that you can evaluate what the impact the Spirit has been in your own life:
Your mind – How you think. What viewpoints changed about what is right and wrong? What changed about determining important or unimportant, about who you are, who God is, and what you can become?
Your heart – How do you feel about things? What attitudes changed? what you liked and disliked, and who you like to be around, and who your heroes were? What impact did the Spirit have on your feelings about yourself and about God?
Your will – What is different in your ability to make choices for God and against sin? Is the new you empowered to do what the old you couldn’t do – consistently say “yes” to God, “no” to temptation?. Did any bad habits stop, good habits start? Any changes in lifestyle, activities?
You have just described a “Magnifico” new creation, as the Old English word would describe it! The new you. How exciting. It could be likened to a fuzzy little worm, earthbound and slow, transformed into a free, glorious creature of the skies. The transformation from caterpillar to butterfly is so radical that we call it a metamorphosis. Maybe that’s a good synonym for “regeneration!” But regeneration is not the end. It’s just the beginning of a great restoration project. There’s an instantaneous transformation that takes place when we first put our trust in Christ, and this starts a transformation process that lasts a lifetime.
As in all of God’s other activities, this “inside job” is assigned to the Holy Spirit as the primary mover. The Holy Spirit not only created us in God’s likeness and he not only recreated us as an altogether new people; He takes up residence inside of us. Hallelujah! With such an inside partner, nothing can stop you! A successful life in the Spirit is no fantasyland, Our salvation is no “pie the sky by and by.” Now. God, the Spirit lives in you in such a tight relationship that everything he promises is within your reach. Hallelujah! Our inside companion in person is all the resource we need to live out the Christian life successfully, to spiral upward, to spiral ever greater likeness to Jesus and intimate relationship with our Lord. Today may you exalt in the radical recreation that has already taken place! What a glorious gift!