Read: Romans 12:1–8 

Let God’s Spirit, not the world, shape your mind.

让圣灵而不是让世界引导你的心思意念。

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Romans 12:2

不要效法这个世界，只要心意更新而变化。-罗马书12章2节

When Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase “the medium is the message” in 1964, personal computers were unknown, mobile phones were science fiction, and the Internet didn’t exist. Today we understand what great foresight he had in predicting how our thinking is influenced in this digital age. In Nicholas Carr’s book The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, he writes, “[The media] supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. Whether I’m online or not, my mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles.”

加拿大学者马歇尔·麦克鲁汉（Marshall McLuhan）于1964年提出创见：“媒体就是讯息。”意思是人们理解一个讯息时，会受到其传播方式的影响。当时个人电脑、手机和网路根本就不存在。如今我们进入这个科技时代，才能真正理解他深远的先见。尼古拉斯·卡尔（Nicholas Carr）在《网路让我们变笨？》一书中，写道：“网路提供大量的讯息，也塑造我们思考的过程。网路似乎削弱我们的专注力和思维能力。如今，不论我是否上网，我都希望能依照网路模式获得大量的讯息。”

I like J. B. Phillips’s paraphrase of Paul’s message to the Christians in Rome: “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity” (Rom. 12:2). How relevant this is today as we find our thoughts and the way our minds process material affected by the world around us.

英国牧师菲利普（J. B. Phillips）曾对罗马书重新释义，他说：“不要被这世界同化，要让上帝改造你们，更新你们的心思意念，让你们在现实生活中体验上帝所定的计划对你是好的，让你对祂完全顺服，以至灵命达到成熟的地步” (罗马书12章2节) 。在今日的世界，我们更应该遵行这节经文的教导，因为我们的思想和思维过程，正受到电子资讯科技巨大的影响。

We cannot stem the tide of information that bombards us, but we can ask God each day to help us focus on Him and to shape our thinking through His presence in our lives.

我们无法阻挡排山倒海而来的讯息，但是，我们能求主帮助我们专心仰望祂，并藉着祂的同在使我们的心思意念得以更新。

Father in heaven, still and focus my mind, quiet my heart, and fill me with Your thoughts throughout this day.

天父，求祢使我灵平静专一，让我心得安宁，让我终日思想祢的话语。

Romans 12:1-8New International Version (NIV)

A Living Sacrifice

12 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. 2 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.

Humble Service in the Body of Christ

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your[a] faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach;8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead,[b] do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

整理：于姊妹