Read: Romans 12:1-21
Think: Romans 12, to many people, is a game-changer. Paul, in verses 1-2, delivers both instruction and conviction saying, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” In any culture, this would be radical advice: give your body to God and think differently than the ways your culture thinks! It is certainly countercultural in America!
Act: Recently, I had the awesome responsibility and privilege of speaking to Viewpoint Church on Romans 12:1-2. (Click here to listen, if you missed it.) These two verses were very significant passages to me and our church because it was the basis of an original series that I wrote last year for our parents titled, “Living Above the Culture.” As I delivered the message, I included a number of practical ways we might “give our bodies to God” and let God “transform us by changing the way we think.” I instinctively knew, as I was sharing, that I was speaking words of both instruction and conviction. At the completion of my message, I sat down next to my husband and…sobbed. I couldn’t stop crying for almost 5 minutes, and I continued to choke up throughout the rest of the afternoon. Roger and I talked about why I was (and many of us were) so emotional at the end of the service. He and I determined that, perhaps, we got a glimpse of God’s grieving heart for the way our nation is lured by the culture much more than we whole-heartedly follow after God. Today, ask God what it is that you can do to please Him rather than grieve Him…then do it.
Pray: Dear Jesus. I want to give you my body as a living and holy sacrifice. Even in this quiet moment, show me anything that I do, see, watch, or say that doesn’t please You. Help me to confide in a mentor, confess to them, what you showed me. Give me the courage to turn from these things today and everyday. Oh how I need You, Lord. Amen.
Be full of faith today!
