Schindler Transformed

Oskar Schindler was a drunk, a spy, a libertine and a member of the Nazi Party when he acquired the German Enamelware Factory that eventually employed 1,750 workers, a thousand of whom were Jews. 

When Schindler became aware of the atrocities against the Jews he began hiring and protecting them from deportation and death with a combination of diplomacy, flattery, and bribery. 

Schindler was quoted as saying, "I felt that the Jews were being destroyed. I had to help them; there was no choice.” 

As time went by, Schindler had to give Nazi officials ever-larger gifts of luxury items obtainable only on the black market to protect his workers. 

His bribes eventually bankrupted him. He died a pauper in 1974. 

Was Schindler a Christian? I don’t know but his life reminded me of a passage from Romans 12:1-2: 

I appeal to you therefore, brethren, 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 renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (RSV).

Here are the marks of a transformed mind:

• Offering our work—the ordinary work of the ranch, the farm, the factory, the shop, and all the daily tasks we have to do every day--as an act of worship to God.
• Enjoying the pleasures of each day to show appreciation for God’s gift of life. 
• True worship is volunteering all we do everyday to God, giving our everyday life to him. 
• To worship and serve God, we must undergo a change, not of our outward form, but of our inward personality. 
• We reject a self-centered life for a Christ-centered life. 
• A Christ-centered life allows us to know and do the will of God. 
• We dedicate our lives to the service of God. 
• We look not only to to our own interests, but also to the interest of others.
• When Christ is in us we follow God's will and work for his good pleasure.

The question is this: Can we sacrifice our moth and rust treasures, our earthly treasures, for eternal treasures found in the mind of Christ.