How should we as born-again christians live our lives? This age-old question applies to every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because we are living in a very humanistic, secularistic, materialistic world where there is a diminishing regard for God and spiritual values. Times have certainly changed compared to years ago when, generally, people had some fear of God and His Word, even though some were not christians.
In his letter to the Roman christians, the Apostle Paul writes, “I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be confirmed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1,2). Note, the ”therefore” links chapter 12 to the preceding chapters in Romans. And then, Paul also writes, “What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live any longer in it?” (Romans 6:1,2). Paul is referring to a believer’s lifestyle of sin and as Peter puts it, “having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins” (2 Peter 1:9).
In making it abundantly clear, Paul states it very personally, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
Trusting Jesus Christ as Savior requires living victorious, God-honoring lives in a sinful world. God requires total commitment and He knows we are not capable of doing this on our own. Thats why we are “equipped” by the indwelling Holy Spirit who effectively “guides us into all the truth … and he will tell you what is yet to come” (John 16:13). This is precisely what Paul means when he says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). To conform means “to comply with or become the same or similar.” To be transformed means “to make a thorough or dramatic change in form, or appearance or character. Anyone who is genuinely saved and loves the Lord would not have a desire to go on committing sin.
The Bible warns us not to love the world because love for the world is not compatible with love for God. “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and also its lust, but the one who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17).
One thing must be uppermost in a believer’s mind, and that is the fact that we are not here forever in this sinful world that is “passing away.” Like Abraham, we too are “looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10).