These two verses sum up so much about Christianity.
"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."
The first part of this passage is the most important. In this verse, the "therefore" is meant to draw in everything that Paul has been trying to get across since the beginning of the letter.
Which, in summary, is that we humans are all deserving of hell. Our sins are hate crimes against the throne of God. It is spitting in the face of our Creator. It is rejection of all things pleasurable and good, for twisted versions leading to pain. It is saying no to love and joy, for manipulation and pain. It is an attempt to defame God's glory, to say that He is not worthy to sit on the throne as the Holy Ruler.
Yet, God, in His mercy, sent His Son to die for His enemies, so that they may be saved. And this salvation that He has given us as a gift, cannot be earned, or else it is not a gift. If it can be earned, that means that God could be in debt to mankind, which is not true.
This is a very short summary, and I don't claim to have gotten the entire message across. So I encourage you to study it for yourself!
So, remembering all of this, let us look to God's mercy. In view of God's mercy, let offer ourselves as living sacrifices, Holy and pleasing to God, which is a spiritual act of worship.
Let's honestly take a look at God's mercy and grace, and what it means for us. When we do this, grace leaves no room for pride. Because it shows that everything we have ever done has killed us, and grace, which is a product of what we had no part in, comes in and erases our efforts and saves us from the wages of our efforts.
Grace kills our pride because pride tells us how great we are, and that we are capable of earning God's favor, but grace says no. That even our good acts are extensions of our pride and selfishness in that, we do "good" things just to earn a painless eternity.
Pride is the root of all of our sins. This idea that we have the "right" to do what we do. So if grace kills pride, that then enables us to sacrifice ourselves in an act of worship.
Reflecting on grace and mercy puts a right perspective in our minds of what and who we are. Which allows us to worship God in a holy and pleasing way.
Even our worship revolves around His grace!
Don't be conformed to the pattern of this world. In other words, be weird and don't fit in. Sure, you can participate and hang with the world. But don't live and act worldly! Just because the world lives one way does not mean that you have to live that way in order to relate. The way you relate to the world is that you both desperately need grace. But if you truly understand this grace, this grace will change you. It kills pride. We are supposed to live in such a radical and unnatural way that the word Paul uses to describe this difference in our lives is transform. It is a complete and total morph of our lives, starting with our very thoughts; the renewing of our minds.
And by this transformation, we are then given access to know what is the perfect will of God.
But it all starts with grace, and is all possible by grace.
We Christians are nothing, we are evil people being transformed by a Crazy Love.
Thanks for reading,
"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."
The first part of this passage is the most important. In this verse, the "therefore" is meant to draw in everything that Paul has been trying to get across since the beginning of the letter.
Which, in summary, is that we humans are all deserving of hell. Our sins are hate crimes against the throne of God. It is spitting in the face of our Creator. It is rejection of all things pleasurable and good, for twisted versions leading to pain. It is saying no to love and joy, for manipulation and pain. It is an attempt to defame God's glory, to say that He is not worthy to sit on the throne as the Holy Ruler.
Yet, God, in His mercy, sent His Son to die for His enemies, so that they may be saved. And this salvation that He has given us as a gift, cannot be earned, or else it is not a gift. If it can be earned, that means that God could be in debt to mankind, which is not true.
This is a very short summary, and I don't claim to have gotten the entire message across. So I encourage you to study it for yourself!
So, remembering all of this, let us look to God's mercy. In view of God's mercy, let offer ourselves as living sacrifices, Holy and pleasing to God, which is a spiritual act of worship.
Let's honestly take a look at God's mercy and grace, and what it means for us. When we do this, grace leaves no room for pride. Because it shows that everything we have ever done has killed us, and grace, which is a product of what we had no part in, comes in and erases our efforts and saves us from the wages of our efforts.
Grace kills our pride because pride tells us how great we are, and that we are capable of earning God's favor, but grace says no. That even our good acts are extensions of our pride and selfishness in that, we do "good" things just to earn a painless eternity.
Pride is the root of all of our sins. This idea that we have the "right" to do what we do. So if grace kills pride, that then enables us to sacrifice ourselves in an act of worship.
Reflecting on grace and mercy puts a right perspective in our minds of what and who we are. Which allows us to worship God in a holy and pleasing way.
Even our worship revolves around His grace!
Don't be conformed to the pattern of this world. In other words, be weird and don't fit in. Sure, you can participate and hang with the world. But don't live and act worldly! Just because the world lives one way does not mean that you have to live that way in order to relate. The way you relate to the world is that you both desperately need grace. But if you truly understand this grace, this grace will change you. It kills pride. We are supposed to live in such a radical and unnatural way that the word Paul uses to describe this difference in our lives is transform. It is a complete and total morph of our lives, starting with our very thoughts; the renewing of our minds.
And by this transformation, we are then given access to know what is the perfect will of God.
But it all starts with grace, and is all possible by grace.
We Christians are nothing, we are evil people being transformed by a Crazy Love.
Thanks for reading,
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