Thought for the Week - 28th June

Pastor Gareth Watkins

Romans 12: 1-2

 

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.’’ (NKJV)

 

God wants us to come to a place where we are no longer confined and trapped by our backgrounds or past. He wants us to come to a new place where we are transformed by the Holy Spirit. We read in the above passage Paul beseeching, begging, that by the mercy of God believers would present themselves as a sacrifice to God, so that through His Holy Spirit their lives would be transformed.

A sacrifice laid on the alter has no rights, thoughts or understanding of its own, Paul speaks here of a living sacrifice, us as a living sacrifice to God so that something better would occur for us. Do you believe God has something better for you? Paul describes a renewing from that which you are, to that which God will create, a transformation of mind and thinking.

We see time and time again the transformation in life after life as they give themselves to God, growing deeper into Him as they go on in their walk. God’s goodness, blessing, renewal and protection comes into those lives as they commit further into Him.

Paul says to all those who doubt God and who are uncertain, all you have to do is present your life as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, and He will do the rest. God will do all that we cannot. He will prove His goodness through His word through you. God will prove what is acceptable and what is His will, in what He will do in your life and renewal. God is not dead, He is not finished with His church or His people, and God is not finished with you. He wants you to be proof in this mad world.

‘’And do not be conformed to this world’’… A lot of people want do that which is acceptable to other people’s standards, or to the standards of the world. Everyone today seems to want to do their own thing, be their own boss with their own interests and self-importance. As Christians we must do what God wants us to do, not that which conforms to the world around us. We must come to God, lay our lives down as sacrifice, and prove God and His will for us. Paul implores us to present ourselves as a living sacrifice and watch God transform us as we step out in faith.

Moody a great revival preacher said, ‘’the mark of a renewed mind is sober and realistic thinking’’

Sober and realistic thinking; these are not extremes of fantasy, nor are they wishful, abstract and unrealistic. They are not the opposite extremes in a mind of depression, negativity and being downcast either. God says He wants us to have a renewed mind, a balanced mind that stays within boundaries and a mind of faith that is constantly moving on in Him.

Do you have a renewed mind? Do you think that the thoughts Christ has for you are not of harm but of goodness, with a future and place in God? Would you sacrifice yourself and ask Him to change your thinking and be the proof those around you need that Christ is the living God? Will you be a sacrifice, holy and acceptable to Him?

Do you believe God has a plan for your life? You are not an accident, He does not want you to be hopeless or lost, but transformed in Him. However long you have been on the road, ask God what He would do in your life to prove Himself through you, and show His hand through you and will for the lives of others.

Amen.

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