"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)
"Be transformed" -- so that means that we do not transform ourselves, right? The who does the transforming? The Holy Spirit:
"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3: 18)
We can be transformed more specifically as we read the Word of God (John 6: 63) and hearing His Word (Romans 10: 17)
This is not something that we do focusing on our sins, focusing on what we have done, but let us focus on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12: 2), through whom we receive grace in time of need (Hebrews 4: 16).
Not in recounting our misdeeds, but in His one deed, do we rest and release His life in us!
"Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." (Philippians 2: 12-13)
We are called to work out our salvation, not "work it up", and certainly not "maintain it." The second verse makes it crystal clear that we are not doing the "saving" anyway!
"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith GOD has given you." (Romans 12:3)
You know the measure of faith that you have? The same as Christ Jesus:
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2: 20)
Romans 12: 3 does not become manifested in our life by taking our inventory ad nauseum, but rather is played out in our lives by thinking on Him who is seated at the right hand of the Father (Colossians 3: 1-3).
He has the whole word held in His hands, so do you think that any one issue will slip through your fingers beyond your control (Colossians 1: 18), so what are you worried about?
2 John 1:8  | |
| 1:8 | Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. |
12Step.org Comments: | |
| Recovery is hard work. We not only have to strive to live a normal life with all of its normal responsibilities, but we also have to continue to work the steps and be constantly vigilant against the possibility of our addictive behaviors returning to us. Here the apostle John is admonishing Christians to not lose what they have worked for. In terms of recovery, this means for us to not slip back into old addictive behaviors. It means to not lose our freedom, which we have worked so hard and diligently to gain and maintain. In order to do this, it is imperative that we continue to take personal inventory as we go through life. In this way, we can maintain the hope that we will receive a full reward in the Lord. | |
http://www.12step.org/bible/step-10-scriptures.html
This is a terrible translation of this passage:
"Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward."
Yet what are we supposed to be watching for, then? Not taking our inventory, since we have been cleansed and purged from all sin, anyway. Hebrews gives the answer:
"1Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. 2For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. " (Hebrews 4: 1-2)
and
"Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." (Hebrews 4: 11)
We are to take diligence to say settled in the Finished Work of Jesus, because there are so many things in this life that will tempt us out of that rest, telling us that we must "do" certain things along with living by grace -- the Galatians were caught up in this dissimulation, being told that they had to keep the law of Moses, too. Yet that is not the case. In fact, any effort to keep the law is weak and beggarly (Galatians 4: 9). To be under the law, or any set of rules of regulations, is to be under the curse:
"For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." (Galatians 3: 10)
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