Romans 12:1-2
12 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. 2 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.
"Be transformed" is a special phrase to me, remembering that
it was emblazoned onto the T-shirts of our youth mission trip
participants years ago. Transformation substantiates the real change at
the point of our commitment to Christ, our submission, which then
requires this sacrifice of our bodies. To illustrate from my life, I
want to share two significant times that I always include in my
testimony.
First, while separated from the love of my life during our
courtship, I was reading Born Again by Chuck Colson in faraway Scotland.
It was given to me by Jana's father to help me in my search for
meaning. I clearly remember finishing the reading of this book which
deeply spoke to my brokenness and need. I was in tears, alone in a room
that featured a full wall of floor to ceiling windows looking out to a
wild, wonderful Scottish hillside. I intentionally submitted my life to
Christ at that moment. He then blessed me with a magnificent rainbow
filling the sky. I'll never forget it.
While this is about offering your body as an act of worship, I
feel it was my heart that I offered up, the essence of my spiritual
body.
Second, is a transformational moment in my life as my
firstborn (who was eight weeks premature) suffered a deadly intestinal
gangrene three weeks into her life. When informed by the doctor by phone
of the necessary surgery on her four-pound body, and the devastating
prognosis, I clearly remember my conversation with the Lord. While it
was not my own body, it surely felt like that in my gut as I offered up
my daughter's broken body to the Lord if it was his will to take her. If
he restored her via the surgeons, we would forever remember His
miraculous gift. That submission was genuine and the restoration of her
body was truly a miracle. Julia's subsequent life has been a great joy
to many. Thank you, Lord.
Your moment of conversion is a great blessing from and to the
Lord, a true gift. Your resubmitting of your entire body to his glory
is your way to continually please Him and to grow and help build His
kingdom on earth.
Now, on you go, to deal with this fallen world with your
transformed life. All I can say, is seeking to please Him in the power
he provides, be sure to "gas up" each morning in your prayerful
conversation with Him, seeking to follow the path he has set out, which
is His perfect will for each of us.
Parting thought and question:
Thank the Lord for past opportunities to fully submit to Him;
seek in your quiet time to serve him, sacrificially, offering your
heart, soul and might in true thankfulness for the grace he has bestowed
on you.
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