ROMANS 12:1-2.

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.

TO PONDER

Most of you know I used to be a middle school maths and science teacher. One thing that both mathematicians and scientists have in common is their love for observable and repeatable patterns. The reason these are so fascinating, and from my perspective, almost addictive, is that they offer us what I think is the closest thing to being able to see into the future.

Now those of you who never appreciated maths or perhaps even science the way I did, and still do, will probably think I'm being a bit ridiculous at this point but bear with me. If you can identify a regular and repeating pattern, then you can usually guess, with a decent level of certainty, what the next occurrence in the sequence is going to be. It is literally like being able to tell the future (admittedly in a very limited capacity). And of course, unexpected events can change or disrupt even the most regular and dependable of patterns.

This is kind of what Jesus did. When Jesus came to earth to live, die, and be raised to life again, he disrupted the previously established pattern of the world. No longer did people have to remain separated from God and have their standing with him mediated by a high priest who offered blood sacrifices for their sins in the temple. No longer was God only claiming the people of Israel as his own, but he was inviting all of creation to be reconciled to himself through Jesus. No longer was death the end, but resurrection and eternal life had been won.

Many people rejected the new paradigm. They had found something comfortable in the old pattern. Some had found a way to use it to their advantage and gain power and position for themselves over others. Some simply found the ew way to challenging to even consider. Some found that the cost of adopting this new paradigm and pattern that Jesus had established was just too big for them. And yet, once you see the way things are now because of Jesus, you can't simply ignore it. It's too beautiful. It's like one of those beautiful repeating fractal images where no matter how much time you take to explore it's patterns and beauty, there is always another level to discover.

So don't let your mind simply be conformed to the boring and obvious patterns of this world. Submit your mind to Jesus, let him upgrade your programming so you can identify the new pattern of resurrection life he has established for you and you will find his will good and pleasing.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, Help me each day to reject the unhelpful and distracting patterns of this world and help me to see more clearly the pattern of your will for me and my life. Help me to walk in that each day, in Jesus name, Amen

Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle.