What to do in order to discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

The Apostle writes: Rom 12:1-2  I beseech you, brethren, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

How to transform our minds in order to accept God’s Word, to have experience of God, to trust in Him and to live by faith? Our soul has reason, will and heart – i.e. feelings. And if there is disharmony between them, evil and sinful feelings begin to manipulate us, enslave us and our will and reason must be conformed to them. And that’s our ruin! We become slaves of sin – fornicators, drug addicts, careerists… Or we live in hatred, envy, open our hearts to the spirit of evil which is behind them, and reason doesn’t work any more.

These three spheres in our soul – heart, reason and will – should be dominated by the light of faith. Faith brings harmony instead of disharmony. Reason then serves its purpose, respects God’s laws, and governs our whole life reasonably and harmoniously. Our heart is filled with peace and blissful happiness which spreads to our neighbours too. But if we lack faith, everything fails and is turned topsy-turvy. Therefore, the Apostle Paul says: “…offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Not only should our soul, our reason, be transformed by the renewal of our mind but our body too should be sanctified. In another place, God’s Word says that our body is the temple of God, the temple of the Holy Spirit. God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. (1Cor 3:16-17)

“Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body…”

If there is harmony in our soul, God protects us from various illnesses as well. For instance, we are witnesses to the spread of AIDS today. Thousands of people die of this disease which is the consequence of sins; though many people today have not been infected through their fault. We were bought with a high price, with the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are not our own any more. “Lord, my body, my health and my life is from You, so I want to serve You.”

Certainly, temptations do come, but we need to fight against them. We undergo suffering, illnesses, pain… If we have any problem or disadvantage, however small, e.g. you are cold or tired or you can’t sleep, we should unite it to Jesus’ suffering and pain. We should sacrifice it all to the Lord. “Lord, this is my purgatory. My body is Yours; I don’t want it to lead me to sin. You gave me health, You gave me healthy eyes so that I can see, You gave me hands and feet so that I can walk… How many people are blind, how many people are paralyzed, confined to a wheelchair and unable to move. But You gave me health.” Let us realize our dignity – in our weak body we carry Jesus, our body is a living temple, a temple of the Holy Spirit. We should be aware of our dignity. “I don’t want my body to become a slave of sin.

“…offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world…” (Rom 12)

This world has been invaded by impurity, perversion, pornography is being advertised; this all is being forced on people, people are under pressure… Today we witness moral decay in the world, and we have to fight against this spirit. We have to take a radical position: “This is a deceit and I don’t want to have anything to do with it or with anything that leads to it. I don’t want to have anything to do with the thinking of the world which makes light of sin, fornication and the consequence of sin, such as abortion etc.” However, this fight is not so easy. We all shall stand before the judgment seat of God. So, if God gives us health, we want to use it to serve God, to fulfil our duties which God has entrusted us with. We don’t want to follow sinful desires or make our body the devil’s plaything. It doesn’t concern just impurity but various other addictions. He who sows to his selfishness will reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap eternal life. (Gal 6:8)

The Apostle Paul says that this is true spiritual worship. It is not like the offerings of the Old Testament when people sacrificed rams. The Lord Jesus sacrificed His body on the cross for every one of us, and we likewise should accept and offer the suffering of our body – e.g. the cold or illness – as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is our reasonable service. And we must not be conformed to this world but transformed by the renewal of our mind. If we do so, God’s Word says that we will then know what is God’s will. So if we do not offer our bodies to sin but to God for service, if this is our spiritual worship, and if our reason is transformed according to truth, then we will know what is God’s will, what is good and acceptable and perfect. So it is necessary to make these steps, for without them we will be unable to discern God’s will. This is all the question of our mind – we need to transform our mind and our attitudes to be able to perceive true values, because if we accept the philosophy of the world, we are led astray. For example, some people say to themselves in temptation: “Those who smoked died but those who didn’t smoke died too. Those who drank died but those who didn’t drink died too.” Such way of thinking leads nowhere. Yes, they died, and what after that? Where did they go? We must be wise, not foolish. We must rely on God in everything.

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