Be willing to change
“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. 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.” (NIV) Romans 12:1-2
Verse 1 directs us to reflect “…in view of God’s mercy…” If you’re anything like me your life is so busy that you rarely take the time to reflect on how fortunate you are. Brothers and Sisters, we need to take the time to reflect on how much God has blessed us. We are sheltered in a world where many have none, fed in a world where many are hungry and clothed in a world where many are naked. And even if we do not have any of these physical blessings we are still immensely blessed because of the spiritual blessings afforded to us through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are forgiven for our transgressions because He took our place on the cross, we have the teachings of Christ in the Word as a gift to help us learn and we are given His Spirit to guide and strengthen us as we strive to live for Him.
Romans 12 says that in view of all this mercy we must offer ourselves as a living sacrifice. In other words, we can’t just say “thank God” and go on living our lives whatever way we want – there must be a meaningful response to the mercy we have been shown. So what can we do to become a “living sacrifice”? A living sacrifice means that we give our lives to God in the sense that we give the very essence of who we are to Him, putting his needs ahead of our own. Paul said it best in Romans 6:11 “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
So we must consider ourselves dead to our old life of sin and transgression and transform ourselves more and more into a reflection of Christ. As we read in Romans 12:2 we must renew our minds so that we don’t conform to the pattern of this world and to do that we must turn to the Bible.