this is my heart

Romans 12: 1-2

“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.”

I feel like there is so much wisdom and instruction inside of these two verses alone that we could plot the course for the rest of our lives using only these as guidelines. First thing I notice is that paul is pleading with his brothers and sisters. Something I am familiar with as of late. When people plead its usually something very serious they are talking about. In this case he is pleading with them to offer their bodies as a sacrifice to the Most High, in remembrance of the greatest sacrifice ever. Not that big of a deal seemingly. The thing is though is that all throughout the bible sacrificial offerings were always the best of the best. The best bull or ram, the best of the flock, or even the very best fruit of the land. All of the best of these was brought before God and sacrificed. He wants the best we have to offer. I feel like these two verses aren’t taken as literally as they should be. Offering your body to God so that it will be an acceptable sacrifice could really cover a whole array of things we can do to keep ourselves in the best condition. Like say more exercise and less eating. Or refraining from drinking or smoking. Holding a grudge against someone or gossiping. Or even choosing not to use words deemed foul and inappropriate. All of these things seem to be more or less suggestions as to how we should live, but what if they were more. What if this were the standard to which we as disciples of the Lord Jesus are to live by. If so I feel we have all fallen incredibly short. Myself included. I honestly believe though, that this is exactly what they are. Not mere suggestions for a healthy life but instructions on how to correctly prepare ourselves to be a sacrificial offering to our Lord.

He asks us to do this in remembrance of “All He has done for you.” So you would think that it would be no big deal then to just opt to not do some things and make a habit to start doing some others. But there is a problem. I believe that we feel entitled to our right to opt out of living according to this. We should have a choice wether or not we should keep our bodies physical healthy to the best of our abilities. We should be able to choose wether or not we drink alcohol or ingest other harmful substances. After all, we can do what we want right? Well I believe we could, but it would be in contradiction to the notion that we were disciples of the One True God. I feel like doing something even if it may not hurt you now, just because you can, may not be the best reason to do it in light of His sacrifice for our sin. It isn’t limited to just our physical selves either. Its also our mental and emotional selves. We were all born into this sinful world, that we had not much of a choice in. But we who say we believe in Jesus and we believe in His death and resurrection could at least have the wisdom to sacrifice our right to those things in order to honor the sacrifice that was so willingly made for us. A sacrifice that when considering the magnitude of His actions, will always bring us to our knees in adoration and reverence. The last part of the first verse is the best part. It says “this is truly the way to worship Him”. But wait, there was nothing about singing songs in there. Or even anything about regularly attending church. What the heck right? Well I think this is something that maybe we know but maybe also gets overlooked more than it should. Worship is about the choices you make in your life. Yes going to church is necessary and singing songs is possibly my favorite thing to do but worship is about how you are living when you are not going to church. Or even when your not basking in His presence in the midst of a deep and moving song or message. We can be constantly worshiping and praising our Lord simply by choosing to do things His way. Its not hard to find. Just open a bible and His way is laid out for you everything spelled out.

Paul goes on to say in verse 2, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world.” Well what does that even mean? There are certain things that we must do in order to live our lives on this earth. That might include things like getting a job or having a family. What I believe is being referenced here are the gray area things that people will possibly forever argue over what is right and what is wrong. Things like abortion and homosexuality and pre-marital sex. All of these things are behaviors exhibited by this world that aren’t necessary in order to live our lives and also line up with the description of disciple. Now I know that some of these things are more specifically pointed out in scripture as being flat out not right and some are a little less clear. Regardless, they all have one thing in common. They all seem to be things that people start doing in order to solve a problem. Its the same with drug and alcohol abuse as well or even harboring ill feelings towards someone. Its a place that people of this world will go to in order to fill a hole. Even to deal with consequences. But I can say that most if not all of them have probably failed us in a huge way. Paul says to let God transform your mind so that you will think differently and begin to see and understand His purpose for your life. He will make this known to you, and you will start to see that right or wrong, legal or illegal, you wont ever have to turn to anything else but the One True God to fill the hole and solve your problems.

I pray that God can change our thought processes to automatically default to Him when we need help. Instead of going to all of these quick answers to complicated problems. Fleeting and superficial behaviors that will leave you in a worse place at some point than you were when you started. God wants to make Himself known to all men. Unfortunately the only way he can do this is through us. His “disciples”. Humans that are susceptible to sin and everything that comes from it. That is why it is so important to look in His word and find His perfectly detailed instructions on how to make our lives an acceptable sacrificial offering to Him. We need to be mirrors of His glory and splendor. He can only make us into that when we have given Him our entire existence. Everything we have, laid at His holy feet, in remembrance of the colossal sacrifice that He made for us. We are to be in this world and not of it.

This is what’s on my heart.