We Need All Three!

“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.” (Romans 12:2)

As we head into a new year this is great advice for the Christian. It is easy to slip into the world’s mold and be conformed to its culture and mindset. The challenge is for us to not be conformed, but be transformed by God’s Word. We can then prove as fact, like a lawyer in a court of law, that God’s will is true! The will of God is not found by looking at our circumstances but is knowable and provable through His Word! The apostle Paul gives us 3 categories: the good, the acceptable, and the perfect will of God. We need to understand and prove all three in the choices and decisions of our lives.

The good refers to good versus evil. Verse 9 says, “Abhor that which is evil, and cleave to that which is good.” Today, many call evil good and good evil. We need to have the clear moral compass of the absolute truth of God’s word in our personal life. Stand as good citizens, but the culture war is already lost. In the big picture our nation and the world are on a course that is not going to be altered. Yet we can reach individuals with truth and the gospel! We need to engage the evil with good on a one-to-one basis.

The acceptable refers to our service meeting God’s standards. We are accepted eternally in the beloved, when we trust Christ as our Savior, saved by grace through faith, through the redemption in His blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (Ephesians 1:7 & 2:8-9). But “We labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of God” (2 Corinthians 5:9). “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). All of the Bible is for us, for our profit and learning, but it is not all specifically to or about us, as Gentiles under grace today. The specific will of God for service today is revealed through the apostle of the Gentiles, the apostle Paul (Romans 11:13; 1 Corinthians 11:1).

The perfect will of God has to do with maturity (not sinless perfection), and walking in wisdom and charity, applying God’s Word in our life, and in relation to others. Charity is the bond of perfectness, seeking the ultimate good for others. Charity seeketh not her own, but another’s well-being. We can have all knowledge, but if we have not charity, we can be just a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. We first need godly edification and the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so we will not be ignorant brethren, but can grow up, and walk in love towards God and our fellow man, as Christ hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us as a sacrifice to God. It is through the scripture, rightly divided and the renewing our mind, “that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16,17). We then can be transformed and prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God!