Life in God’s family – Part 1, In view of God’s mercies – Romans 12:1-2
Now that I’m a Christian, now what?
Saved into a family, into a kingdom, into His light, to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. We are to live out this life in community.
Offer your body to God
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.
Romans 12:1
In view of God’s mercies (all that the Apostle Paul had already written – love, forgiveness, grace, the gift of faith, peace). Not merely because He says so, but because He is worthy. Not a DEAD animal sacrifice, but a living life sacrifice. Your everyday and everything. All! And all is an act of worship.
“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.”
C.T. Studd, pioneer missionary to China
Offer your mind to God
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.
Romans 12:2
We will conform, but to what? The world (“a mad puppet show on a tottering stage”), or to God? We need a change as radical as that of a caterpillar to a butterfly, in all the areas of our life: family, work, retirement, …
Where is this transformation to take place? In the mind. It requires, like a home renovation, throwing out the old. How? By filling our mind with God’s word, listening to Him more than all the other voices. Run, run to God’s word first.
The promise: then you will know and do God’s will. And yes, even in the normal affairs of life we can ask “What is clear from the Bible?”, and then let this wisdom guide us: choosing a partner for life, choosing a job, having kids, …
Why? In view of God’s super-abundant mercies.
“Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
