Think Well, Live WellSample

The Culture of the Kingdom

For many years this passage has challenged me. It speaks of giving ourselves completely in worship to God, of giving our lives to Him in every aspect.

I was born in Sydney, Australia, in a Latino home. I grew up speaking Spanish like my parents, who always passed on to me the heart of their home country, Argentina. So, I lived with a mixture of both cultures, until I came to the ways of the Lord.

When I began to walk with God, I realized that I could not build my life on any of the cultures I knew, be it Latino, Argentinean or Australian. Despite loving them, none of these mentalities were wide enough to allow me to enter into all that God had for my life, my family and my future.

It was then that I realized that Jesus had made me heir to a new culture: Kingdom culture.

The God we serve is not limited, and that is why He has called us to live a life without limits, according to His own culture. But part of the process of getting there is the renewal of our mind.

Verse 2 of Romans says, "Do not be conformed to this world". What does this mean?

Many of us believe that this is about the way we dress or our hairstyle, however, it has nothing to do with appearances.

The verse continues and encourages us to "be transformed" by the renewal of our mind, our way of thinking. Your mentality speaks louder than your exterior, it screams louder than your appearance.

The word transformation is originally described as metamorphosis, a change of state, the process by which something becomes something else, like a worm into a butterfly. In this case, it is a process of maturing into the design that God intended for our lives. The Lord calls us to go through a mental metamorphosis, so that we learn to think as citizens of heaven and experience all that he has for us.