Paul urges those who read and hear his letter to respond to the good news by offering their bodies — eyes, ears, mouths, hands, feet — to God as a “living sacrifice.” Paul knows well enough that sacrifice of Jesus changes everything. His resurrection steals life from death and makes it possible for those who trust in Him to become a sacrifice and yet live. But how do we live? We do not live as before, wrapping ourselves in the world and its bankrupt values. We live in constant renewal and transformation of our minds.
I recently bought a copy of the Voice Study Bible, to use as a resource for the student ministry at St. Philip’s UMC, also known as Pulse Student Ministries. By far my favorite thing about this particular study bible is the text that is in the margins. The quote above is the reference to Romans 12:1.
I wanted to focus on one part of it though.
But how do we live? We do not live as before, wrapping ourselves in the world and its bankrupt values. We live in constant renewal and transformation of our minds.
I love the part of that phrase that says: Constant Renewal
Lately God has been showing me how much we forget about His love and put more trust in possessions. Things that we can have. In this season of Advent God calls us to embrace Him and wait for celebration of the birth of His son. I am reminded of all the people that God used to come to this world and that they were not the people that we would have chosen to be the people that would be present at His birth. I don’t think we would have chosen an unwed teenage girl and a humble carpenter for Jesus’ parents.
I suppose that is difference between our perspective and God’s.
God has no concern for the external, but on what is going on in the heart; on the internal. He sees us for who we really are and tells us that we are called to serve Him and to live our lives as an act of worship. We are no longer living the bankrupt values of this world, but the surpassing values of the Kingdom of God.
May God bless the hearers of His word to love as He loves, encourage as He encourages and to be as He is.
Amen.