Romans 12:1-2

Passage

Therefore, I appeal to you all through the mercies of God, brothers and sisters, to make your bodies available to God while living as a holy, pleasing sacrifice.  This is your genuine religious veneration.  And do not conform to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of the mind in order that you examine what is the will of God: good, pleasing, and perfect.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Paul begins the end of his letter to the Romans in exhortation.  What is his first exhortation?  Paul reminds us to make ourselves available to God.  We are to be a sacrifice unto Him.  We are to be His people, doing His will, living the manner of life that brings glory to His name.  Paul says that this is genuine veneration.  What does God want with us?   He desires that we have relationship with Him and choose to live according to His ways.

Are you available to God?  Are you living holy, pleasing, sacrificial lives?

Second Thought:

Paul then gives us an often quoted phrase, although I think we misquote its intention.  We like to say, “Do not be conformed to this world.”  That is not what Paul says.  Paul says to “not be conformed to this age.”  Paul’s talking about a way of thinking and living.  The people of this age have a certain agenda.  They have a certain passion.  Paul is saying our agendas and passions should be something other than what the world pursues.  He’s not saying that the stuff of the world is bad as much as He’s says that the behaviors and thinking of this age are not worth our time.

Do you think like the world or like God?  How can you become better at thinking like God?

Third Thought:

Finally, Paul tells us that we are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind.  Again, this goes back to Paul’s point.  The stuff isn’t Paul’s focus, the patterns in life has his focus!  Instead of being like this age, Paul encourages us to examine the will of God in order to determine what is good, pleasing, and perfect.  Paul knows that satisfaction in life is found in God, not the ways of this world.

What is perfection to you?  What is goodness to you?  What is pleasing to you?  Are your answers to these questions things of God?

Passage for Tomorrow: Romans 12:3-5