"Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
“THEREFORE”, is often the most neglected word in this passage. We tend to read all the phenomenal theology in Romans prior to this verse, all the breathtakingly powerful thoughts on the love of God, and then just go about our day as though nothing happened. We ignore what the teachings in this passage are “There For”. We agree with them , we support them, we even repeat them… but they were written to change us.
Atheist have said “Christianity might be a good thing; someone should try it.” That is an accusatory statement directed at the church. And yet, I cannot argue that sometimes my morning bible study is followed by a day that appears to ignore what I have read. Theology matters, but altered behavior, is the indicator of a changed life. So, as believers, do our lives look like those of a person who has been transformed by the love of our King? Are we living, holy sacrifices acceptable to God?
As soon as were born into this world it begins the process of killing us… We owe it nothing. Yet we search for fulfillment pursuing its trinkets. Instead, we should pursue God’s path of life with a mind renewed, obedient, and following His will. If we did that, we would be living as we were designed to live. But do you?... Do I? Do we love others? Do we bless those who persecute us? We say we believe and that’s good, but even demons believe.
So, the real question is, does our belief change us? Does it result in us obediently following God? Are we transformed by the renewing of our minds, proving the will of God is good and acceptable and perfect?
Those are the marching orders. Talk is cheap, so renew your mind this morning and start living out scripture. Because at the end of the day… that’s what it’s “there for.”
“One act of obedience is better than one hundred sermons.”
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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