Episode 21: Why Isn’t the Bible Changing Me?

If you’ve been reading your Bible but feel like nothing is actually changing, you’re not alone.

In this episode, we look at Romans 12:1–2 in context and unpack how Scripture actually transforms you. Not just what it says, but what it does.

This isn’t about reading more.
It’s about what happens when it actually takes root.

Transcript

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Welcome to Rooted with Emily Talento, where we explore who Jesus is through context, culture, and covenant. Today we're going to be unpacking a question that I'm sure we've all experienced at one time or another, which is if the Bible is God's word and we're studying it, why are we still dealing with the same problems? We've been talking about the importance of reading scripture in context, reading things with the overarching story in mind. We've talked about the importance of recognizing the original culture and the words that might mean something different today than they did in the ancient context. But here's the tension: we can understand scripture and still be unchanged by it. We could explain it, we could teach it, we could agree with it, and yet our lives still feel unchanged. So the issue isn't lack of knowledge or lack of discipline. The issue is we don't understand how transformation happens. This lack of understanding affects every area of our lives. For example, we could read about us not being anxious and yet we're still anxious. We could read about how we should trust God and yet we're still trying to control everything. We could read about how we need to forgive, but forgiveness is not coming naturally. We could read about all of these areas of life that we should be excelling in as believers, and yet it just feels like the most unnatural thing we could be doing. And it doesn't feel like it's getting easier. It leaves us with this overwhelming feeling of why isn't anything working? I should be past this by now. We're gonna read a couple verses in Romans today. Romans 12, verses 1 and 2. And then we're gonna dive into it together. It says, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Okay, killer verses. Some things that I want to highlight. Actually, before we do that, let's go into our rooted moment of the day. If you don't know a rooted moment, is when we look at the original context and culture of the passage to see what the original readers would have understood that we are likely missing in 2026. So what we're gonna look at today is this idea of presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice. Now, this is a culture that regularly offered sacrifices in the temple setting. Whether these are Jewish believers that Paul is writing to, or I mean, in this context we know, but in general, right? Like whether you're coming from a Gentile background where you're worshiping in pagan temples, you're giving sacrifices, or if you're Jewish, you also were giving sacrifices to God in the temple. I think oftentimes we read this as metaphorical, presenting your bodies as a living sacrifice, but they would have taken it in a much more literal sense, obviously, not actually laying on an altar and presenting themselves before God in that way. But it would have invoked this imagery of surrendering all, not holding anything back. That's something I think we often miss because we're not living in a culture that's practicing regular sacrifices. So think total surrender, not just us making partial adjustments for God in our lives. Completely, fully, everything his. Okay. We're gonna move on to another word. We're gonna move on to the word mind in verse two. Again, it says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. The word in Greek here is noose. Now, it's not just our thoughts, it's our entire framework for reality. It's how we interpret everything. In verse two, Paul isn't describing behavior change, he's describing a complete reordering of our inner world. Can we just think about that for a second? That's crazy. That's also not easy. It's unbelievably painful. There's a sense, and we've talked about this in Colossians 3, this idea of putting off the old self and putting on the new self. There's a responsibility we have there. However, thankfully, transformation isn't our work. Thank God. It's a work of the Holy Spirit that we are a recipient of. However, we are also playing a role in the way of surrender, which is where we're gonna start. I know it doesn't always feel like it, but scripture isn't trying to change your behavior. It's trying to change the way you see your perspective. And when that perspective takes root, that's when the behavior changes. That's where the life change happens. We're gonna unpack four different things that happen when scripture actually takes root in your life. Number one, you surrender, you give up control. I was thinking about this the other day in Revelation, I think it's 320, it talks about how Jesus knocks on the door of your heart, and if you let him in, he'll dine with you. And oftentimes it's this image of salvation, right? But I think it could also be translated to people who aren't just getting saved. Our houses have many rooms. Okay, so he enters through the front door, we welcome him in. But our entire walk with God, he's knocking on different doors of our house, and we have to continue to let him in and give him access. He's a gentleman, he's not gonna force his way. It's about living in a continued state of surrender, not holding any parts back. It's this idea that my life isn't my own. It actually belongs to you, God. And that right there is where transformation really begins. Number two, your thinking starts to shift. Now, it doesn't happen all at once, it happens slowly. It often starts with questioning old patterns that we once lived in without thinking twice. We can see more clearly what's true and what's not true. We just start to overall see things differently. This is the core mechanism of the transformation. Number three, your perspective actually changes. Now, this is different from number two because number two was more so, you know, you're thinking your patterns are starting to shift. But when your perspective changes, that's your outlook. That's the lens in which you see the world. You still have the same life, but you're seeing your struggles differently, God differently, yourself differently, your circumstances differently. Your perspective change is where the transformation really starts to become real. And number four, your life follows. We can't change the behavior before we change, honestly, your noose, your your mind, your your framework. And so once that's all changed, now the behavior, your actions follow. So what does that look like? Maybe slower reactions, maybe higher level of discernment, maybe you're more loving to people. You can empathize and see their perspective more easily. You are recognizing that you have new patterns that maybe you didn't have before, healthier patterns in relationships, in the workplace, in every area of life. I want this to be explicitly clear. This change in life, this change in behavior isn't forced. It's based off of overflow. Okay, we spend time in God's Word. We are being transformed by surrendering to Him, having our minds be renewed, all of the things. And now from that place, we have real life transformation. So to simply sum the whole process up in four steps: release, renew, reframe, and respond. Now, a lot of us try to jump straight to respond, but scripture starts at the root. Sometimes we don't need more Bible knowledge. Sometimes we do. But sometimes we need to lean more heavily into the power of transformation that comes from the renewing of our mind. And again, this isn't our work. This isn't something that we do. This is something that God allows us to take part in. But at the end of the day, the transformation power comes from him and him alone. And thank God for that. So I want to thank you for being here. I really appreciate it. If you like this episode, you can like or comment or whatever it is that they have you do subscribe on the platform that you are currently watching or listening to this on. You could also follow me on Instagram at Emily Talento and at rooted with Emily Talento. I really appreciate it. And uh I will see you next time.