By bro Cornelius Lee
Have any of you noticed that the more time you spend with someone, the more you act and adopt their speech patterns and become more like them? Well, I have, especially in the Army where people like to use certain phrases like “solid” or “one time good one” in their normal conversations. I found myself using these phrases even when I am not in camp. This is what I mean by becoming more like others around you, being influenced by the people around you.
In the book of Romans, we are told to be transformed: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 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.” (Rom 12:1-2) As Christians, we are to be transformed to prove that the will of God is good, acceptable, and perfect. How do we renew our mind to be transformed so that we can present our bodies as living sacrifices that are acceptable to God? As shown in the example above, we need to spend more time with God so as to be able to renew our minds and be transformed. Here are three ways that we can spend more time with God.
Reading the Bible
The Bible is the Word of God. 1 Tim 3:16-17 reads, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” To prove that the will of God is perfect, we have to understand that will and this will is found in the Bible. By reading the Bible, our minds can be renewed, and we can be transformed to be living sacrifices to the Lord.
Worship and Bible Class
We are to worship God every first day of the week just as how the first century Christians met together. As we worship God, He is present in our worship. We are not to forsake assembling with other Christians as mentioned in Hebrews 10:25, but to exhort one another during our assembly. In Ephesians 4:11-13, it is written, “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:” Through our worship and Bible classes, we are edified by preachers and Bible class teachers, and through this edification, we are able to achieve perfectness in God, to be able to transform ourselves.
Fellowship with the Saints
Through the followship with the saints we are surrounded by good influences. We understand in 1 Cor 15:33 that “Evil communication corrupts good manners”. The more we spend time with our fellow saints, the more we become like them. Just being present in any type of fellowship such as the Bible quiz, Home zone fellowship or even Tracting will allow you to spend time with your fellow saints. Through fellowship, you will be able to learn many good habits from each other and work together to achieve perfectness in the sight of God, successfully transforming yourselves.
In conclusion, as we know, it is easy to be influenced by people whom you spend a lot of time with, so let us not spend our time with the world and be influenced by the world, but to spend time with God and our fellow saints.