In View of God’s Mercy
Opening Prayer
Dear God, You deserve nothing less than all of me. I offer myself to You again, asking for forgiveness for what I have withheld.
Read Romans 12:1-8
[1] 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. [2] 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. [3] For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. [4] For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, [5] so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. [6] We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; [7] if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; [8] if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
In what way should we present ourselves to God?For eleven chapters, Paul has been making his case for salvation depending on the mercy of God and nothing else. And with the word “therefore” at the beginning of chapter 12, he turns to the matter of how to live in response to this mercy. Where once sacrifice was used to pay the cost of sin, now that cost has been paid definitively; we are “holy and pleasing to God” (12:1)–and we worship him by offering everything we are to him in gratitude. God has made us holy, so it makes sense to live in a way that reflects that truth. Just as our crutches are redundant once our broken leg has healed, so the law is no longer needed once we are holy. Some of us get into knots trying to work out what holiness looks like moment by moment. We end up in an exhausting and pointless legalistic struggle to be good. What is Paul’s advice, though, in verse 2? Work from the inside out: be transformed and renewed, and then you’ll instinctively know how to please God. As Augustine put it: “Love God, and do what you like.”
Apply
What gifts have you been given and how are you using them to benefit your church? Ask the Holy Spirit to enable you to offer more.
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, help me to remember who You are and what You have done for me. May my faith in You grow ever stronger.
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