Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
By the mercies of God-- present your body a living sacrifice.
We know that a sacrifice offering is killed symbolizing the need for the shedding of blood for the remission of sins.
Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Without the shedding of blood there is no remission- no forgiveness, no pardon for sin. Christ shed His blood, His innocent blood so we could be fully forgiven by Him. Here we are told to present our bodies a living sacrifice. A living sacrifice isn't killed, a living sacrifice does not give it's life for the remission of sins. A living sacrifice- a sacrifice nonetheless. What is sacrificed? The self is sacrificed- the selfishness.
Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Present ourselves a living sacrifice- holy, acceptable unto God. The only way we are acceptable to God is through Jesus Christ. When we give ourselves to God we change our lives, we are no longer living for ourselves and selfish purposes.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Be not conformed to the world. We are all about conforming aren't we?
conform (ken-fôrm´) verb
1. To correspond in form or character; be similar.
2. To act or be in accord or agreement; comply. See synonyms at agree.
3. To act in accordance with current customs or modes.
These are good things right? Acting in accord and agreeing with society around us which is our world, being similar to others around us, acting in accord with the current customs or modes of the world. We thrive in a society of conformity and non-conformist are usually considered radical and often times criminal. Jesus Himself was a non-conformist wasn't He? Think about it. The Pharisees were all about revealing His rabble rousing ways, showing where He didn't act in accord to the proper Jewish norms. That He was accused of calling Himself a king, that He was accused of blasphemy against God, all this was to show that He was a non-conformist and so much so that He deserved to be put to death.
We are called to be non-conformist. We are told NOT to be conformed to the world. Does that mean we are to be so called rabble rousers, troublemakers, bucking society? I think it does mean that if it interferes with us being holy acceptable to God. We need to be transformed from being conformist to the world by the renewing of our mind and the renewing of our minds will prove what is good, acceptable, perfect - the will of God.
God, throughout the Bible, throughout history has shown that following the crowd, following the ways of the world, agreeing with the world is the wrong path. God has a chosen people and the chosen people have always been in the minority in comparison to the world. Why do we think it will be different now, in our day and age? Why do we believe that suddenly the world as a whole will follow God? Why do we think that whole governments will conform to God's will? They won't and we have to understand this because it's important to understand that even living in the United States, a country with the freedom of religion that we the majority will not be God's or following God's perfect way.
We need to search for the pure truth in Jesus and only the pure truth in Him and when we find the truth and the way we need to follow that truth in Jesus. We can't say we need to conform to the world even when people spout Jesus' saying about rendering under Caesar what is Caesar's. Jesus never meant that we are to compromise the truth in doing so. If Caesar's way is against God's moral law then we follow God's moral law first and foremost. Jesus told us that we are to love God first and love our fellow man second. In that love of our fellow man we sacrifice self for them and that means when they ask for our coat we give them our cloak too which means we give of ourselves, we sacrifice self. Sacrificing self is one of the hardest things any of us will be asked to do. Giving up self and surrendering fully to God will be the most trying thing ever.
Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
By the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior may we not be conformed to the world, may we not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to, by faith may we surrender our self to God fully out of love to Him, for Him, from Him.
Amen.
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