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 renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:1-2
I heard in a promo for the local Christian radio station a statement like this: “I love [radio station] because I can worship on days other than Sunday.” My immediate thought was that they don’t understand what worship is and these verses from Romans 12 back that up. We are to offer ourselves each day in sacrifice to Him. It’s the daily living of our lives that show our worship, but emotional music and waving our hands in the air.
If we allow ourselves to meditate on these two verses, it will convict our hearts. I know it does mine. If I think back on my day, my week and this month and year, I find that mostly I do what I want. I act as I decide best, within the framework of biblical morality. That sounds well and good, but Jesus demanded our complete surrender and submission to His will over ours, not that we would simply restrict our will to the boundaries of the law.
I’ve come to realize that means that I will act in ways that frequently make me uncomfortable, that are outside what I want to do and that it takes vigilance and a constant view of the savior and his sacrifice to motivate me to act as a living sacrifice every day. I haven’t done well at this at all in recent years, frankly.
Romans 12:3-8 – So, take what you’ve been given and offer it to God. If you can teach, teach, if you can serve serve. God did not give these gifts that you would spend them on bettering yourselves, rather that they would better the church and in turn the world.
Romans 12:10 – “Outdo one another in showing honor.” – Oh that this characterized every group that calls itself a church.
Romans 12:14-21 – Paul tells us here how we should act towards each other and the world. It does not come naturally. Refer to verses1-2.
Great reminder, I really needed that 😉
When I think of that passage in Romans 12 (and what you wrote Doug) I think about the way that Jesus put it as it was reported in 3 of the gospels:
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”