Therefore, I urge you,
brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living
sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but
be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and
approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2)
You know two plus two equals four. but how do you know it? Do you remember how you learned it? Chances are that someone either told you or led you to discover it. So, how do you know it’s true? Very likely, you know it because you’ve experienced its truth, but if someone you trusted had taught you that two plus two equals five, you would probably have experienced that just as often.
Philosopher, David Hume (1711-1776) wrote that we can’t know for certain anything that we cannot reason out for ourselves, like two plus two equals four. He’s right. We could be mistaken about almost everything we think we know, even those things that he maintained could be discovered by reason alone, because most of those things were actually revealed to us long before we reasoned them.
I believe that everything we think we know has been revealed to us. There are two obvious sources of revelation: the world around us and the God who created it. Some people maintain that the God who created the world isn’t an obvious source at all, but many more have found the revelation known as the Bible to be an invaluable resource. The problem with the world, or universe, as the sole source of revelation is that it our interpretation tends to be inaccurate. Some unknown philosopher has suggested, if you want to succeed, “Observe the masses and do the opposite.” I believe that’s approximately what Paul is calling us to do. We aren’t to do what the world does, even though that is precisely what we tend to want to do. We are to do what Scripture says, even though that’s usually what we don’t want to do.
To do that, we have to sacrifice ourselves and our wants. It is as we do this that we come to understand and appreciate God’s will. It may sound negative to say it, but I’ve found one of the ways I can tell if something is God’s will is to pay attention to my reaction to it. If I respond, “No, no, no, no, no, no, no….” it’s probably God’s will. If I metaphorically grind my teeth and growl, it’s possibly God’s will. When I know better but go ahead anyway, it’s not God’s will. If I have to explain to myself or to others how my situation is different, or that I’m special, it’s not God’s will.
You know two plus two equals four. but how do you know it? Do you remember how you learned it? Chances are that someone either told you or led you to discover it. So, how do you know it’s true? Very likely, you know it because you’ve experienced its truth, but if someone you trusted had taught you that two plus two equals five, you would probably have experienced that just as often.
Philosopher, David Hume (1711-1776) wrote that we can’t know for certain anything that we cannot reason out for ourselves, like two plus two equals four. He’s right. We could be mistaken about almost everything we think we know, even those things that he maintained could be discovered by reason alone, because most of those things were actually revealed to us long before we reasoned them.
I believe that everything we think we know has been revealed to us. There are two obvious sources of revelation: the world around us and the God who created it. Some people maintain that the God who created the world isn’t an obvious source at all, but many more have found the revelation known as the Bible to be an invaluable resource. The problem with the world, or universe, as the sole source of revelation is that it our interpretation tends to be inaccurate. Some unknown philosopher has suggested, if you want to succeed, “Observe the masses and do the opposite.” I believe that’s approximately what Paul is calling us to do. We aren’t to do what the world does, even though that is precisely what we tend to want to do. We are to do what Scripture says, even though that’s usually what we don’t want to do.
To do that, we have to sacrifice ourselves and our wants. It is as we do this that we come to understand and appreciate God’s will. It may sound negative to say it, but I’ve found one of the ways I can tell if something is God’s will is to pay attention to my reaction to it. If I respond, “No, no, no, no, no, no, no….” it’s probably God’s will. If I metaphorically grind my teeth and growl, it’s possibly God’s will. When I know better but go ahead anyway, it’s not God’s will. If I have to explain to myself or to others how my situation is different, or that I’m special, it’s not God’s will.
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