Choose Today Whom You Will Serve

Meditations on

Staying In the Grace for Today 

January 26, 2026

Choose Today Whom You Will Serve

Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:2 (NRSV 

When we come to God by faith in Jesus, we are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Life of Christ, and we are transformed into a new creature. (See 2 Corinthians 5:17) As such, we are in essence a dichotomy. Our old nature, our old self, is still very much alive and sharply contrasts with our new spiritual nature. Our mission is to learn to differentiate between the two as we learn to serve God in the new way of living in the Spirit. (See Romans 7:6) The good news here is that God empowers our ability to so differentiate between the two and live in the new way of the Spirit: “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” (Philippians 2:13)

Our responsibility is to cooperate with the Holy Spirit and discern when our thoughts and actions align more with the prevailing culture, or our old habit patterns, than with thoughts and actions which are pleasing to God. Long before the term social media influencer entered our cultural lexicon, we were surrounded by influencers such as parents, siblings, close relatives and teachers. All these people shaped our self-image, our understanding of God and our neighbors. I believe Bishop N T Wright said it best when he noted our culture has told us a pack of lies about who we are, who God is and who our neighbors are. But God in Christ Jesus is telling us the truth. The more we listen to God’s truth, the more we are transformed by the renewing of our mind.

Learning to differentiate between the ways of the culture and the ways of God can be difficult. Perhaps this is why Paul used such stark language when he described our journey in faith, such as, “For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism.” (Romans 6:4), and “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20)

My Takeaway: The influencer of the ways of the culture is him who is a liar and comes only to steal and kill and destroy. The influencer of the ways of God is Him who came that we may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10) God is at work in our lives 24/7. So also, we get to choose, each day, whom we will serve. Choose today whom you will serve. (Joshua 24:15)

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

 

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2026 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.