A Change Of View

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

How often do we see a problem and look to place blame on others.  For example, let’s start by looking at how children behave today.  There is a part of me that saw today’s children as being somewhat self-centered and narcissistic.  My thought went, “They only think of themselves.  Whatever happened to sharing and giving?  They only see the world as something they are entitled to, and they want everything right now.  That explains why they are so distant from the church, right?”  They must certainly be punished for this!  Then, I said to myself, “What if God did that to me?”  What if He looked and saw all of my flaws and imperfections and said, “Enough!  Kent is no good, and let him burn for all of eternity!”  Instead, He sent His only son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins with the hope we would come around and serve Him.  With that in mind, I took my own view and tried to see the world as God would.  What if children’s feelings of narcissism were not really the problem at all?  What if the issue is the world crushes their spirits such that they do not feel special?  Thus, the problem is no longer their focus on self.  The problem is helping them understand their own value and both lifting up and serving others as a greater than serving self.

When we give ourselves to God, we are offering everything including our minds so that we learn more of God’s plan for us.  We often look at what goes on in the world, and give up saying to ourselves that is just the way of the world.  We rarely believe that we can make a difference.  However in serving the one true living God, we must always remember to see things through His eyes and not our own.  Through our own grace, we gained something special and God inspired.  Someone you see begging on the street becomes the motivation to volunteer for a food drive, and seeing poverty motivates you to give time toward a troubled youth program to help uplift others from their situation.  We no longer see problems as an issue with the world.  Instead, it becomes something God can inspire action toward truly making a difference.

Each day that we walk with God gives us greater insight into His plans for our lives.  Today’s verses talk of God transforming us.  To do this, we must learn to toss away our worldly view, and learn to see the world as He sees it.  If we realize how much God gave us through the gift of grace, we can begin to see the depth of His love for us, and through that, we can love others such that it may transform them as much as we have been. What problem can stand a more godly view in your life?  How can you continue to push your thinking toward allowing God to transform you?  My prayer is that we take off our worldly view on things and allow God to change our view to His.  Amen.