Be Ye & Be Not

Many years ago (more than I would like to admit) I was reading through Romans and came to Romans 12:1-2: "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."

As I read the words "be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed" I remembered something I had heard a pastor say:

If you will be what you are supposed to be, you will do what you are supposed to do.

And it got me to thinking … how many times did God say, "be ye." This all happened so long ago, that the Bible program I had on my little Mac SE was limited and would not search common words like "be" and "ye." So, I got out my trusty Strong's Concordance and that was a no go, too. Do you know how long it took me to look up just 5 or 10 occurrences of the phrase "be ye"?

So the thought was placed on the back burner for a while. Then we got a more powerful computer and Bible program and viola!! I could look up the phrase!

There are so many times God says "be ye" that it will take a while to cover it. I may cover a few, take a break and revisit the study but over the coming weeks and months, I hope you find the study as interesting as I do.

For today, think on this one:

"Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not."

Luke 12:40

In my observation over the past 40+ years of salvation and church attendance, it is, I think, when Christians forget that the Lord is returning; earth is temporary; there is a life in heaven ever after that Christians struggle more with serving the Lord.

If we "be ready" then we will be compelled to serve Him.