“Beyond Copycat Customs” - Romans 12: 2

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.

Introduction

WE GATHER FOR THIS SECOND INSTALLMENT IN THIS MASTERMIND SERIES WHERE

ONCE AGAIN, WE ASKING GOD TO BLESS AND

KEEP US AND TO KEEP OUR VERY MINDS AND THOUGHTS STAYED ON

JESUS.....BEFORE WE GET TO CUSTOMS THIS MORNING

CONSIDER WHAT OUR BROTHER, PSYCHIATRIST & AUTHOR M. SCOTT PECK M.D. HAS

WRITTEN ABOUT THINKING:

THINKING IS DIFFICULT. THINKING IS COMPLEX . AND THINKING IS — MORE

THAN ANYTHING ELSE —A PROCESS, WITH A

COURSE OR DIRECTION, A LAPSE OF TIME, AND A SERIES OF STEPS OR STAGES

THAT LEAD TO SOME RESULT. TO THINK WELL IS

A LABORIOUS, OFTEN PAINSTAKING PROCESS UNTIL ONE BECOMES

ACCUSTOMED

TO BEING THOUGHTFUL. SINCE IT IS A PROCESS, THE COURSE OR DIRECTION

MAY NOT ALWAYS BE CLEAR-CUT.

THERE IS A DYNAMIC AND INSPIRING CHRISTIAN HYMN LYRIC THAT SAYS:

When I think of the goodness of Jesus,

and what he has done for me,

my soul cries out, "Hallelujah!"

Praise God for saving me.

GOSPEL ARTIST KIRK FRANKLIN WENT TO THINKING HIMSELF AND WROTE:

WHEN I THINK ABOUT JESUS - WHAT HE’S DONE FOR ME

WHEN I THINK ABOUT JESUS - HOW HE’S SET ME FREE

I COULD DANCE, DANCE, DANCE, DANCE ALL NIGHT

IT WAS NOTED, BELOVEDS, THAT WHEN THE GREAT ALBERT EINSTEIN LABELED THE

INTUITIVE MIND A SACRED GIFT, HE WAS COMMENTING ON ITS SPIRITUAL

IMPLICATIONS. TO IGNORE THE SPIRITUAL PROFUNDITY OF THE INSIGHTFUL

WHISPERS WE HEAR IN OUR INTUITIVE MINDS IS TO MISS OUT ON THEIR SPIRITUAL

POWER. AS PSYCHOLOGISTS REFLECTED ON EINSTEIN’S ASSERTION....ONE SET OF

CONCLUSIONS THAT MIGHT BE HELPFUL TO CHRISTIAN PEOPLE THINKING DEEPLY

ABOUT JESUS, SPIRITUAL PEOPLE WALKING EVEN CLOSER WITH THE LORD IN THE

LIGHT OF THE RESURRECTION.......HERE’S WHAT THEY SHARED:

IF GOD IS ON OUR MINDS, IF WE THINK ABOUT RELATING TO GOD OVER TIME, OUR

BRAINS MAKE SOME SURPRISING CHANGES. NEURAL FUNCTIONING ACTUALLY

BEGINS TO ALTER. IT TURNS OUT THAT “BEING TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING

OF YOUR MIND” IS MORE THAN METAPHORICAL. NEUROLOGICAL RENEWAL

OCCURS WHEN WE FOCUS ON GOD. DIFFERENT CIRCUITS BECOME ACTIVATED,

WHILE OTHERS BECOME DEACTIVATED. NEW DENDRITES OR appendages that are

designed to receive communications from other cells ARE FORMED, NEW

SYNAPTIC CONNECTIONS ARE MADE AND THE BRAIN BECOMES MORE SENSITIVE

TO SUBTLE REALMS OF EXPERIENCE..........

THINKING MORE ABOUT GOD

IT’S NO ACCIDENT THAT AS WE EXPERIENCE MORE LIFE AND LIVING, MORE TRIALS AND TRAUMAS WE ARE INSPIRED

BY PEOPLE WHO JUST TEND TO THINK ABOUT GOD MORE......THE POET AND AUTHOR LT. COLONEL MARLENE J.

CHASE WAS A SPIRITUAL POWERHOUSE HERSELF WHO GAVE SIGNIFICANT YEARS OF SERVICE TO THE SALVATION

ARMY......BUT FOR HER, SHE ADMIRED AND WAS INSPIRED BY HER MOM EVEN MORE......SHE WROTE ABOUT HER

MOM’S JOURNEY WITH THE LORD OUR GOD RECALLING:

MY MOTHER BELIEVED STRONGLY THAT EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED TO HER AND EVERYTHING THAT

DIDN’T

HAPPEN WAS ORCHESTRATED BY THE LOVING, ALL KNOWING GOD SHE SERVED. WITH HER THERE WERE NO

SMALL MATTERS. SHE PRAYED OVER AN AILING REFRIGERATOR, KNOWING THERE WAS NO MONEY FOR A

REPLACEMENT. WHEN SHE MISLAID HER GLASSES AND THUS COULD NOT HAVE HER DAILY QUIET TIME WITH

HER

BIBLE AND DEVOTIONAL BOOKS, SHE MADE IT A MATTER OF PRAYER. I SOMETIMES KIDDED HER ABOUT

THIS,

SECRETLY WONDERING IF GOD WERE REALLY CONCERNED ABOUT SUCH THINGS. SHE WAS QUICK TO THANK

GOD TOO WHEN GOD ANSWERED PRAYERS— SMALL AND LARGE. BUT WEREN’T THOSE JUST

COINCIDENCES?

WOULDN’T SHE HAVE EVENTUALLY FOUND HER GLASSES IF SHE HADN’T PRAYED? SHE REMINDED ME OF

THE SAINT WHO SAID, “WHEN I PRAY, COINCIDENCES HAPPEN. WHEN I DON’T, THEY DON’T.”

THAT POWERFUL MEMORY OF HER MOM MAY NOT HAVE MADE MARLENE J. CHASE A COPYCAT OF HER MOTHER’S

WAYS AND CUSTOMS FULLY......BUT MARLENE DID PURSUE HER OWN WALK OF FAITH....AND PRECIOUS MEMORIES

LIKE THIS ONE ABOUT HER MOM CAME TO MIND AS SHE SANG THESE POWERFUL LYRICS FROM THE SALVATION

ARMY SONGBOOK ABOUT OUR GOD:

ALL IS KNOWN TO THEE, MY MASTER, ALL IS KNOWN AND THAT IS WAY I CAN WORK AND

WAIT FOR THE VERDICT OF YOUR KIND BUT SEARCHING EYE.......

ST. PAUL’S TIMELESS ENCOURAGEMENT

AS ST. PAUL OPENS THIS 12th CHAPTER OF HIS GREATEST LETTER, THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS, WE CAN FEEL

PAUL’S ENTHUSIASM FOR BOTH GOD AND THE CULTURALLY RICH POPULATION OF PERHAPS ONE OF THE GREATEST

AND MOST DIVERSE CITIES OF HIS TIME.....ROME.....

VERSE 1 APPLIES TO OUR CHRISTIAN WALK IN THE LIGHT OF THE RESURRECTION AS SURELY NOW AS IT DID THEN,

BELOVEDS......

Romans 12:1–2 ESV

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, 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 renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

THE APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE OF FAITH IS QUALIFIED AND REIFIED BY “THE MERCIES OF GOD” ....IN THIS WAY

EVERYTHING THAT HAS BEEN GIVEN BY GOD, SHOWN TO US BY GOD’S OUTSTANDING AND EVER EXPANDING GRACE

CAN BE SUMMED UP IN THESE MERCIES OF GOD.....

THAT THE BIBLE TELLS US IN LAMENTATIONS, “ARE NEW EVERY MORNING”

THE PSALMIST IN PSALM 145 ADDS, ‘THE LORD IS GRACIOUS AND FULL OF COMPASSION, SLOW TO ANGER AND

GREAT IN HIS MERCY.’

“BUT GOD,” PAUL WROTE TO THE EPHESIANS, “WHO IS RICH IN MERCY BECAUSE OF THAT GREAT LOVE WITH WHICH

HE LOVED US”

GREAT IS YOUR MERCY, THE SONG SAYS, TO ME....GREAT IS YOUR KINDNESS TOWARD ME, GREAT IS YOUR MERCY

TOWARDS ME…GREAT IS YOUR GRACE..........

THERE IS NO BETTER WAY FOR THE APOSTLE PAUL TO SEEK TO APPEAL TO THE ROMANS OR TO US THAN BY THE

MANY, MIGHTY, MAJESTIC MERCIES OF ALMIGHTY GOD.....

A BRILLIANT COMMENTARY ON THIS POWERFUL AND FAMILIAR TEXT GOES ON TO SAY:

In the U.S., we live in a culture that inundates us with advertising designed to keep us conformed to this

world.

The marketing/media industry spends billions of dollars annually to flood televisions, websites, billboards,

email,

regular mail. They intrude even onto gas pump screens or the screens on debit/credit card readers. They

seek to

define us essentially as consumers, individual economic units existing for the sake of larger market shares.

In addition, each day our families, friends, organizations, religions, political parties, and society at large

pressure us

to fit in, to stay within the boundaries of tradition, custom, or practice that mark who we’re “supposed” to

be.

Not being conformed to this world is a tall order. The world will fight at every stage to convince us to look

the other way rather than glimpse the injustice, hatred, oppression, immorality, greed, and violence that

surround us.

It takes transformation, renewal of the mind, to detach ourselves from the world’s attempts to occupy us

with

things that do not matter. Paul implores us to shake off the effects of this world, attend to the things that do

matter, and “discern … the will of God, what is good, acceptable, and perfect”

WE CAN’T ACHIEVE THIS GREAT GOAL OF DISCERNING THE WILL OF GOD WITHOUT THE USE OF OUR MINDS,

BELOVEDS.....AND THOUGH WE ARE SURELY INSPIRED BY OTHER BELIEVERS AND OTHER PEOPLE OF FAITH WE

DON’T NEED TO BE COPYCATS WHEN IT COMES TO LIVING OUT OUR FAITH, AND DISCERNING GOD’S WILL

INDIVIDUALLY AS WE SERVE THE LORD OUR GOD HONORS GOD AS WE USE THE SACRED GIFT OF OUR MINDS......

LAST SUNDAY, WE LEARNED THE JESUS PRAYER, A TOOL OF THE DESERT MOTHERS AND FATHERS..... “Lord Jesus

Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.”

OVERCOMING COPYCAT CUSTOMS

TODAY, YOU’RE INVITED TO ADD THIS TO YOUR SPIRITUAL TOOLBOX BELOVEDS.....THE WONDERFUL CONCLUSION

REACHED IN THE FINAL CHAPTER OF MASTER YOUR MINDSPACE: MINDFUL PRACTICES FOR MORE CALM,

CLARITY AND FOCUS IN JUST 5 MINUTES A DAY BY MICHAEL ATMA.....AT THE CLOSE OF EACH CHAPTER, HE GIVES

READERS 5 MINUTE EXERCISES THAT HELPS FOLKS WHO HAVE NEVER MEDITATED, OR WHO ARE NEW TO IT....IN HIS

CONCLUDING CHAPTER HE WROTE:

THE BIG SECRET TO MASTERING YOUR MIND-SPACE IS TO SIMPLY FIND A WAY THAT WORKS FOR YOU TO

QUIET

YOUR MIND AND BE-HERE-NOW. IT’S SO EASY TO GET LOST IN OUR THOUGHTS AND LIVES THAT WE FORGET

THAT IT’S THE SIMPLEST OF THINGS THAT CAN HELP US TO FIND PEACE, CLARITY AND HAPPINESS....WE ARE

TRULY AND ONLY LIMITED BY OUR IMAGINATION AND THE CONFIDENCE WE HAVE TO LET IT FLY FREE....

MY FAVORITE 5 MINUTE EXERCISE FROM HIS BOOK IS FOR HEALING OURSELVES......

AS YOU USE THIS EXERCISE FOR YOUR OWN SENSE OF CALM, CLARITY AND FOCUS.....REFLECT ON WHERE AND HOW

YOUR MIND IS BEING TRANSFORMED, HOW YOUR MIND IS BEING FILLED WITH RESURRECTION LIGHT, HOW YOUR

MIND IS HELPING YOU OVERCOME, CHALLENGES OF EVERY KIND....BY THE GRACE AND MERCIES OF GOD.......HERE

IS THE EXERCISE ITSELF:

NOW PUT YOUR HANDS OVER YOUR HEART AND SAY TO YOURSELF, I FORGIVE MYSELF FOR HOLDING ON TO

_____________ EXPERIENCE AND CONTINUING TO CAUSE MYSELF PAIN. YOU CAN SAY THIS ONCE OR AS

MANY TIMES AS YOU LIKE UNTIL YOU CAN SAY WITHOUT ANY NEGATIVE ATTACHMENT......

DR LES PARROTT, THE INSPIRATIONAL WRITER AND RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPMENT EXPERT WROTE, “YOU CAN

DERIVE AMAZING POWER AND STRENGTH IN YOUR LIFE WHEN GOD SPEAKS TO YOU THROUGH YOUR INTUITIVE

MIND. BUT THE COMPLEXITIES OF YOUR RATIONAL MIND — WITH ALL ITS WORRIES, OBSESSIONS, AND FEARS —

OFTEN KEEP YOUR INTUITIVE MIND SHUT DOWN. GOD WANTS TO SPEAK TO YOU THROUGH YOUR MIND, BUT

YOU’VE GOT TO CLEAR YOUR HEAD TO HEAR GOD’S SACRED WHISPERS.”

CONCLUSION

BELOVEDS, WE ARE CALLED TO MAKE SPACE....THAT’S WHY THE 5-MINUTE EXERCISES ARE HELPFUL TO US…

WHENEVER WE MAKE SPACE FOR GOD TO COME IN, GOD MAKES US MORE THAN COPYCATS.....GOD GIVES US MORE

THAN EARTHLY INSPIRATION ONLY......WHEN WE MAKE SPACE FOR GOD TO COME IN AND FILL OUR INTUITIVE MINDS

GOD TAKES OUR CUSTOMS AND GIVES US MORE TO LIVE FOR THAN JUST REPEATING THE PAST....GOD GIVES US

MORE, BELOVEDS, MORE JOY THAN WE CAN NAME.........WHEN WE MAKE SPACE FOR GOD, GOD GIVES US MORE

FORGIVENESS THAN WE’VE KNOWN AND WE CAN FIND FORGIVENESS WHERE FORGIVENESS MAY HAVE NEVER BEEN

KNOWN BEFORE....WHEN WE MAKE SPACE FOR GOD, GOD CAN SPEAK PEACE TO OUR GRIEFS AND LIFE TO OUR