Five Things I Learned from Romans 12: How to think like God thinks.

How to think like God thinks

We can learn a lot from simply reading the Bible. By reading it, we see that God gives us choices: choose good and follow Him, or pick evil and follow the world’s ways. Romans 12 offers guidance on how to live in a world that does not know God. In this chapter, Paul begins to tie together all that he has written in the earlier chapters of the book. Here are five things I saw in Romans 12 about fitting into a church and relating to the people there. I learned how to think like God thinks.

One: 1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Romans 12:1

“Present our bodies…” means to give our lives to God so that we may serve Him by putting ourselves at His disposal. We are, after all, created for Him and to do His will while we are alive (Revelation 4:11).

And our service to Him is part of our worship of Him. Not as a ritualistic sacrifice, but as a living and holy (by faith) sacrifice to God. We are to be people who dedicate ourselves to Him, not to get back from Him, but in giving to Him. Do not ignore this part of faith—we are not to focus on getting for ourselves through our faith but we are to give to God and others in faith.

Two: 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may  prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2

This verse reveals the choice we all face: conform to the world and its way of living or be transformed to conform to God and live for Him—which is really living. The choice is to be transformed or conformed. This has to do with how we think, how we view the world, and how we view people. We must allow God to change us so that we can think like He thinks. Then not only am I changed, but so are those around me. (Colossians 3:1-3; Isaiah 55:8-9)

Three: 3 For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. 4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Romans 12:3-5

How do we think like God? We start by not thinking of ourselves as better than anyone else. The first step on the path to thinking like God is to understand that I (and all of us) have a place in the world and in a local church. God expects us to contribute to the working of the local church. We all have a place in the local church, but for each of us it is a different part. Find your part and live it out! I cannot do this if I think I am the most important person around. (See Philippians 2:3-5.)

Four: 9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; Romans 12:9-10

Paul continues the path of esteeming others above ourselves. He tells us to love each other honestly and to therefore, stay away from evil thoughts and deeds. We must honor our brothers and sisters, even if it costs us our honor.

Five: 14  Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15  Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Romans 12:14-15

Finally, we see how this is accomplished. If my thinking is like God’s, I can now bless those who persecute me (Jesus did—Luke 23:34) and rejoice with those who rejoice. If something good happens to a person in my church, it is good for me. This way of seeing people triumphs over the world’s way, where we are taught to be arrogant and boastful.

This is not an in-depth study of Romans 12, but these are what I learned about the calling of all people who follow Jesus and allow Him to change them inside and out. It is about how to think like God thinks. We are given a choice by God; what we do with that choice changes our lives—and those we meet. And that is good news!