1Dear friends, God is good. So I beg you to offer your bodies to him as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing. That's the most sensible way to serve God. 2Don't be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him.
3I realize how kind God has been to me, and so I tell each of you not to think you are better than you really are. Use good sense and measure yourself by the amount of faith that God has given you. 4A body is made up of many parts, and each of them has its own use. 5That's how it is with us. There are many of us, but we each are part of the body of Christ, as well as part of one another.
6God has also given each of us different gifts to use. If we can prophesy, we should do it according to the amount of faith we have. 7If we can serve others, we should serve. If we can teach, we should teach. 8If we can encourage others, we should encourage them. If we can give, we should be generous. If we are leaders, we should do our best. If we are good to others, we should do it cheerfully.
It may be the "most sensible way" to serve God...but doesn't mean it's the "easiest".
If we "offer our bodies to God as a living sacrifice", as Paul suggests (actually, begs), it implies all the typical things we imply from sacrifice...except we don't die. It means we turn over sovereignty of our lives to another. it means our lives exist for the use and pleasure of another. It means we don't get a vote on any outcome involving our lives.
Total surrender...In order to be "pure and holy"
How? By letting God "change the way we think".
I read someplace that there are only six basic body types. This is why we constantly look around the mall and feel like we've seen many of those folks before. "They all look alike", at least every sixth person does. No so with our thoughts. Descartes said "I think...therefore, I am". Our thoughts are the only things that truly and uniquely define us. My thoughts make me "me". My thoughts distinguish me from every other living being. I guard that part of myself jealously. My boss can make me do something but she can't make me like it!
Let God change the way I think? Really, would I even be me anymore? This feels like intellectual suicide.
What's so sensible about something so frightening? And, if we piously say "it's not so frightening" why aren't we all doing it?
Paul alludes to a possible reason. "I tell each of you not to think you are better than you really are". OK, sure...I may be truly unique in my cerebral being. That doesn't mean my uniquity (great word I just invented) is all that great. If we take honest inventory of our lives we may actually recognize that we are better off if we let God change the way we think.
And, if we do, we will become valuable resources that God can invest for His kingdom...exponentially increasing our worth. God can put us exactly where we can accomplish the most good.
I'm still very nervous...but that's just me thinking, not God.
Live boldly out there today...
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