"Living Sacrifices" New Year’s Spiritual Inventory - December 28 Readings: Romans 12

A New Year's Spiritual Inventory 

Today's Reading: Romans 12            

Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

3 For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one. 4 Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, 5 in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. 6 According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one’s faith; 7 if service, use it in service; if teaching, in teaching; 8 if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness.

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good. 10 Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Take the lead in honoring one another. 11 Do not lack diligence in zeal; be fervent in the Spirit; serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer. 13 Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Give careful thought to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. 18 If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for God’s wrath, because it is written, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord. 20 But

If your enemy is hungry, feed him.
If he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
For in so doing
you will be heaping fiery coals on his head.

21 Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.

 

Through the Bible Readings: Zechariah 11-12, Revelation 19, Psalm 148:1–8, Proverbs 31:22–23 

If you wish to read through the Bible in a year, follow these readings. 

Devotional:  Living Sacrifices      

Romans 1-11 is all about the amazing salvation God won for us through the work of Christ on the cross - the righteousness that he achieved that becomes ours through faith, not by works. Romans 1-3 plumbs the depths of human sin and concludes that there is no hope of righteousness for anyone - Jew or Gentile - by their own works. We are all under sin and facing God's just judgment. But starting in the middle of chapter 3 and going through chapter 5 he details the glories of our justification, how God demonstrated his love for us in the death of Christ and how his righteousness comes to us through faith. In chapters 6-8 the effects of a righteousness received by faith on the life of the one who receives it. It is a glorious life free of slavery to sin and the condemnation it brings, one in which we are more than conquerors over all of that which comes against us. Finally, Romans 9-11 explores God's eternal purposes in Israel and the church. It all ends with a glorious song of praise in the last few verses of chapter 11. 

It is an amazing story of love and redemption, truly the "greatest story ever told." And it is a story that demands a response. We cannot simply receive this great gift from God then continue in life as if nothing has happened. Such would be unthinkable, evil, and an insult to the work of Christ. 

But what must we do in response? How do we react to "so great salvation" as God has given us through Christ? Romans 12:1 makes that clear. It tells us what to do "by the mercies of God." In other words, in the light of all that has gone on in the first 11 chapters, in the light of the mercy of God displayed in justification by faith, here's how you respond. Verses 1 and 2 explain the response. Read them again, carefully. 

We are called in these verses to respond in two ways. First, we are to present our bodies to Christ. He doesn't ask for my money, or some of my time, or even a measure of my loyalty. He wants me. My whole body - yielded to him and his service. You cannot respond to the amazing grace of Christ with anything less than the complete surrender of myself - body, soul, and spirit - to him. 

The final verse of "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" says it so well. If I owned the whole earth, it would be a present far too small to respond to the grace of God. Instead, the writer says, 

"Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all." 

Nothing else but complete surrender will suffice.

But a surrendered life is also a transformed life. No longer can we simply drift with the tide of this world, going along with its ways, succumbing to its standards, and imitating its behaviors. We must instead be transformed through the renewing of our minds which is accomplished in us by the work of the Spirit, primarily using the power of God's word.

Christians must be counter-cultural, living as citizens of God's kingdom in the kingdom of man, listening to him instead of following others or even our own hearts, being shaped by the Spirit's work and not anything else. We must submit to God and seek him, resist the devil, reject sin, and walk in the power of the fullness of the Spirit.

In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul says it clearly and directly. "You do not belong to yourselves. You were bought with a price." When someone does for us what Christ did for us, we are obligated to respond appropriately. The only appropriate response to God's love and mercy is a body surrendered fully to him and a mind renewed by his word!

Father, take all of me. Renew my mind with your word and my heart with your love. 

Give Careful Thought to Your Ways:

Are you actively and consistently renewing your mind in the word? 

• You can only be conformed to Christ by being renewed in your mind, which is a product of God's word. 

Are you using the gifts God has given you to build up the body of Christ? 

Read through verses 9-21 and examine your life according to the specific teachings of those verses.  

• Do you endure in doing what is right and good, even when you suffer for it? 
• Do you bless those who persecute you and return good for evil? 
• Do you refuse to seek vengeance but instead, let God handle things? 

Hymn of the Day: 

When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the Prince of glory died,

My richest gain I count but loss,

And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,

Save in the death of Christ my God!

All the vain things that charm me most,

I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,

Sorrow and love flow mingled down!

Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,

Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were a present far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Isaac Watts