Day 3 | Romans 12:1-3
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. 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. Romans 12:1-3 (NIV)
For Reflection:
I somehow am constantly amazed by God’s word. I shouldn’t be surprised that the God who created us knows us so well, but here I am once again awakened to his intimacy with us. This passage not only points us to God’s mercy, but invites our whole being to participate in his activity among us. What an incredible life he invites us into! Reading this passage he addresses our doing with our bodies, our thinking with our minds, and our connection with God’s will in our souls - he knows we are all of these things - a whole being.
The passage right before this describes God’s abundant mercy and ends with this doxology, “For from him (God) and through him and for him all things are made. To him be the glory forever! Amen. (Rom. 11:36)”. Then, our passage starts with “Therefore…”. Because God made all things from himself and through himself in mercy and love - because of this our whole being - mind, body, soul - is made to worship him and align with his good, pleasing and perfect will. What we do and the way we use our bodies is worship. What we fill our minds with and the way we choose to think changes how we see God in the world. The way we humble ourselves and approach our faith matters. As we build faith, as we are more and more deeply immersed in God’s loving ways in what we do and think, the more we are transformed in our whole being, the more we sense his promptings in our soul, the more we practice God’s way, worshiping him with our physical lives, the more we recognize our little part in God’s great will. All the parts of us are connected in Him and through Him and from Him and for Him.
The passage goes on after these verses (v.4-8) to broaden beyond our own selves into the body of Christ, the church, having different parts and each person having a unique part to play. When we are living our unique lives as worship with others who are living their unique lives as worship… just imagine an entire humanity using our entire beings - our bodies, our minds, our spirits - as one, to give thanks and worship to our creator God in all of his great mercy, by living in Him and through Him and for Him here in this physical world He has given us. Our beings long for this and we pray Your kingdom come, Your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven.
Let us Pray:
God, thank you for caring about all of us. Not just our belief system or our rights and wrongs, but our whole being. Thank you for your mercy that you pour on us and for inviting us into participation in your will. Thank you that we get to be a part of your creation and a part of the body of Christ. Continue to transform our whole beings - mind, bodies and soul. Bring us into more awareness of who you are and away from that which doesn’t end in your good, perfect and pleasing will. We worship you with our whole lives. Let us live out the role you have given us to play in your kingdom here in our real lives today. Amen.
Question:
I wonder how my doing, thinking and feeling are pointing towards God’s mercy today.