Transformed To His Will

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  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.” –Romans 12:1 & 2

Transformation cannot come without their first being a sacrifice.  We cannot be transformed, become fit vessels to prove the perfect will of God, while simultaneously remaining conformed to this world.  If we love the world, then we will be conformed to the world, and if we love God then we will be conformed to God.  Our nature is to love the world, to that we must die, and become a living sacrifice.  We must yield to God, in order to be transformed. 

It tells us in Hebrews that “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward (Hebrews 11:24-26).”  Stop and imagine what the man Moses must have looked like when he was a prince of Egypt.  I suspect he was clean, and well groomed.  His clothes made of the finest material available and fitted to his liking.  My mind imagines that he painted his face, like the women in that country, to enhance his features.  He probably wore a year's worth of wages in jewelry around his neck and wrists, in his hair and ears.  His hands were likely smooth, and his body showing no marks of hard labor or burden.  He was a picture of vanity, comfort, and affluence.  The Bible says that he choose to leave it all, to sacrifice it all.  That he choose the reproach of Christ, and had respect to the recompense of the reward.  He left Egypt and served forty years as a shepherd in the wilderness.  Apparently, shepherds make good leaders.  After forty years in the wilderness, serving, and learning to lead.  God called him from a burning bush and sent him on a holy crusade to free His people.  I wonder, if anyone recognized the adopted Egyptian prince when he came marching back into Egypt after forty years tending sheep.  Do you think he looked anything like the man the left?  Not remotely.  Most likely, his dress was plain, practical, and modest.  His hands callous, and face weather ridden.  His hair and beard, long and untidy.  The comforts and pleasures he once enjoyed in Egypt, long since abandoned in his heart, and therefore, in his life.  He was no longer a man given to this world, but rather, a man given to the will of God.  He had become a living sacrifice.  God had, and would continue, to transform Moses into a great leader, but more importantly, a vessel fit to carry out the will of God.  No longer conformed to this world, but renewed in mind, and proving the will of God.

When we leave Egypt, give up the world, and turn away from sin; become living sacrifices, God honors the sacrifice with His Holy Spirit and transforms us from the inside out.  What was once carnal, sinful, and worldly; becomes spiritual, holy, and godly.  When we once wanted our own will, not we are transformed to desire His will in our lives, and prove it out in our actions.  The change will be immediate, though the totally of its affect in our lives ongoing.  The transformation, in a moment, though the implications, continuous.  The sacrifice once for all, though we die daily. Through it all, we must be living sacrifices, holy, acceptable, and not conformed to this world; and because we are sacrifices we can be holy, renewed in mind, proving the perfect will of God.