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Today's Pathway: Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Yesterday Paul talked about the need for believers to be transformed by God rather than be conformed by the world. In the middle of verse 2 he explains how that happens. He states that it occurs "by the renewing of your mind". The word carries the idea of "renovating". Richard Trench defined "renewing" this way:

"the gradual conforming of the man more and more to that new spiritual world into which he has been introduced and in which he now lives and moves".

"That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."

How does this renewal take place? John Stott wrote,

"Although Paul does not here tell us how our mind becomes renewed, we know from his other writings that it is by a combination of the Spirit and the Word of God. Certainly regeneration by the Holy Spirit involves the renewal of every part of our humanness, which has been tainted and twisted by the fall, and this includes our mind. But in addition, we need the Word of God, which is the Spirit’s ‘sword’, and which acts as an objective revelation of God’s will. Here then are the stages of Christian moral transformation: first our mind is renewed by the Word and Spirit of God; then we are able to discern and desire the will of God; and then we are increasingly transformed by it."

The end result of this is that we will "prove" the will of God. The word "prove" means to test or examine something with the purpose of the test being to display or prove the genuineness of that which is tried. The believer whose mind is renewed can now start discerning and practicing the will of God. When he does so, he will find that God's will is good and acceptable and perfect. It is good because God is good (Matthew 19:17), and thus whatever He determines must be good as well. It is acceptable, because doing what God wants would be pleasing to Him (Hebrews 13:20-21). In addition, doing what God desires should be pleasing to us as well. Finally, Paul says that God's will is perfect. "Perfect" describes something which is finished and has everything that is necessary. It includes the ideas of having no defects, and of having reached the goal for which it was originally intended.This is a great definition of the Lord's will. When we do it we will accomplish everything in this life that He desires us to, and we will have done it correctly. The end result of that will be,

"Well done, thou good and faithful servant" (Matthew 25:21).