by Angela S. Young

Created on: September 04, 2009   Last Updated: September 12, 2009

Be transformed! Wow, reaching our full potential! Oh, the possibilities! The verse "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind." shows us how we can become what God intended. In order to understand how to be transformed, we need first to look at why we need transformed.

The first part of this verse (Romans 12:2 KJV) reads: "And be not conformed to this world." From this we see that the transformation is the opposite of conforming to, or becoming like, the world. Romans 3:23 tells us that "all have sinned"; this verse reminds us that no matter how good we are, no matter how many good things we do, we miss the mark because we cannot keep God's laws perfectly. The sin nature in each of us leads us to want or lust after the things of the world. The human being is "drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." (James 1:14 KJV)

Our tendency is to conform; God wants us to transform; how do we move from one to the other? The next part of the verse (Romans 12:2 KJV) reads "but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." When thinking of "renewing", I often think of someone restoring an old antique. It may look horrible, encrusted with dirt, at the beginning, but through careful cleansing, the true beauty of the piece becomes apparent, showing off the true value of the object.

So also do we renew our minds by careful, meticulous, detailed cleansing and restoration. The first step in the transformation is accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior and beginning a new relationship with God. With this step, we are born again into God's family. Titus 3:5 (KJV) tells us our salvation, transformation and renewing are "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." He saves us because He is merciful; He then begins the "washing" process, regenerating us and renewing us through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Once we've taking that first step, the Holy Spirit lives within us to teach us God's ways. This starts with the Scripture. As we study, memorize and meditate on God's Word, it begins to sink in and change us. We learn which things to cling to and which things to turn away from. We grow closer to God which transforms us to His likeness. Other transformation tools include: prayer, fellowship with believers, worship, Scripture meditation, Scripture memorization and placing the things God calls good in our lives.

We've all heard the old saying, "garbage in, garbage out." This

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