A Godly Metamorphosis
Romans 12:1,2 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. (NRSV)
The image that the world has of a loving God (if He were to exist at all) is that He accepts people the way they are. It doesn’t matter, so the thinking goes, what you do, or what you believe – you’ll be fine.
As I said, that’s the worldly view of “God”, and it’s the view used most often to attempt to remould Christians into something more acceptable to the contemporary secular mindset.
Here’s how Scottish Theologian, Sinclair B Ferguson, responds:
It is misleading to say that God accepts us the way we are. Rather, He accepts us despite the way we are. He receives us only in Christ and for Christ’s sake. Nor does He mean to leave us the way He found us, but to transform us into the likeness of His Son.
That’s the truth that lies at the heart of the Gospel. Our sin (let’s call it for what it is) is the barrier between us and God that’s removed when we put our faith in the Jesus, who died to pay the price that God’s justice demands of our sin, and rose again to give us a new life.
Romans 12:1,2 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. (NRSV)
How do we respond? By being moulded, transformed – literally metamorphosised – into the image of God, not into the ways of the world.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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Respond
Ethan Crawshaw
Dear Friend in Christ, Thanks for our enquiry about reaching out to mature-age Catholics. It is to your credit that you ...
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Dear Friend in Christ,
Thanks for our enquiry about reaching out to mature-age Catholics.
It is to your credit that you feel moved to share your faith with your fellow residents.
Many Catholics seem to think that they belong to the true faith and that they are
somehow fully acquainted with the Bible. However, in many cases their
understanding is superficial, as they rely heavily on the readings, sermons and
homilies they receive in church rather than reading the Bible for themselves
privately.
Have you considered starting a Bible study group in your village? With Catholics it is
best to invite them to ‘read’ the Bible with you rather than to engage in a ‘study’.
Before we approach others in the Lord’s name, prayer should always come first as
illustrated in the passage below. Here Paul also offers us some sage advice on how
to actually go about witnessing. His thrust is to take every opportunity to tell others
of our faith in Christ, to show gentleness and respect to them no matter their beliefs
and yet to give a cutting edge to what we are saying. He doesn’t explain his
reference to salt but it is generally thought to mean that we should make our
conversations interesting. Others point out that salt is both a preservative and a
cleansing agent.
Colossians 4:2-6
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that
God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of
Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be
wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let
your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know
how to answer everyone.
Catholicism is a works-based faith as distinct from mainstream protestant
denominations which hold that God’s grace is wholly sufficient for salvation. In this
light, it may be possible to ask your Catholic friends what is their take on the verse
below:
Ephesians 2:8-10
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from
yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast. For we
are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared
in advance for us to do.
My best wishes, Your brother in Christ,
Dian Langley
I live in an over 55’s retirement village and a lot of the ladies that I become friends with, are Catholics and ...
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I live in an over 55’s retirement village and a lot of the ladies that I become friends with, are Catholics and they very much believe that God is all loving and therefore it goes against His very nature to be condemning. How do I get through to them , I’ve tried talking to a certain few, but without getting on a soap box..it is very hard. Any ideas?