Offering Our Lives
“Therefore in view of God’s mercies, offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world but be transform by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve God’s good pleasing and perfect will.”
Romans 12:1-2
Our perspective everyday as we wake up is to not live for ourselves but for God. This is the essence of this command. And in case you get tired of doing that-Paul points us back to his first sentence… “in view of God’s mercies.” This is where we draw our inspiration. Our bible studies, our worship is all about reminding what Christ did for us. So, it would compel us to produce that desire and passion in us to obey and serve Him.
We offer our heart. Goal. The bible commands us to love God with all our heart. It means that the goal of your person is to please God. It’s not that you hope what you are doing somehow will please God but rather you are seeking to know what He wants in order to do them and so please Him. Each day you will ask did I do the right thing? Doing the right thing means, seeking to make right choices and have right attitude to please God. Goal is what you do because you want to please God. Purpose is what gives you meaning and reason to live. It answers the question of why. Purpose gives you a sense of importance. Why are you important? Because I exist simply to please God. Purpose is what keeps you going. It gives you joy. The result of achieving your goal is it produces joy. It gives you the reason to set more goals. It gives you a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.
We offer our mind. We offer our mind by letting go of the patterns of this world. And creating a new pattern for God. The first pattern we develop is the pattern of reading God’s word. This includes memorization and meditation. Just like any skill. You have to develop it with discipline and time. We need to develop the habit of prayer. We learn from the scripture what to pray and how to ask from God. The application of the Word of God is first done in
We offer our Soul. Our Soul constitutes our personality, our identity, our inner self often express in emotions. This impacts our lifestyle and behavior and attitude. The goal is for us to love God with our soul. So the acquired word of God teaches us to pray and causes changes in our personality. The key to all this is to always have an expression that will please God. This is a moment by moment thing We need to keep in step with the Spirit.
We offer our Strength. What does loving God with our strength means? Strength the quality or state of being strong, influence, number (as of personnel or ships in a force or body) Might = physical strength, power to do or accomplish, capacity. We are commanded to love him with the things that make us strong. We are to love Him with our accomplishments, our influence and all of our tangible capacities.
What motivates us to do all these? It’s God’s love. And our response is a graduating love Psalms 63:1-2 “O God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You; my soul thirst for You; my flesh faints for You, as in a dry and wary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon You in the sanctuary; beholding Your power and glory.”
