27d (edited) • christian
God’s plan works!
In Romans 12:1 Paul brings us face-to-face with this
gateway: 'Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's
mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing
to God—which is your spiritual worship." In the preceding
eleven chapters of Romans, Paul has expounded on the
boundless mercy of God toward the human race and the full
provision He has made for all men, Jew or Gentile, through the
sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. Now he comes to the response
God requires from each of us. It is simple and down-to-earth:
Offer your body to God as a living sacrifice.
It is a sacrifice that God requires of us for His plan to work.
But why does Paul emphasize that it is to be a living sacrifice?
Because he is contrasting it with the sacrifices of the Old
Testament, which were first slain and then placed dead on the
altar. In the New Testament God requires each believer to offer
his or her body just as totally on His altar—but it is to be a living
body, one that is active and dedicated in His service. There is no
difference in the totality of the sacrifice. In the New Testament as
in the Old, God requires complete, unreserved surrender.
To offer your body to God in this way means that you no
longer claim ownership or control of it. You no longer decide
where it is to go, what it is to eat or wear, or what kind of service
it is to perform. All that is now decided by the One to whom you
have yielded complete and final control. Since He is your
Creator, He knows better than you do what He can accomplish
in and through that yielded body of yours.
The first result of this surrender is that it makes your body
holy. In Matthew 23:19 Jesus reminds the Pharisees
altar that sanctifies—or makes holy—the sacrifice placed on it,
and not the other way around. This applies to your body when it
is placed on God's altar. By this act it is sanctified, made holy, set
apart to God.
His altar.
In Romans 12:2 Paul goes on to describe the second result of
offering your body upon God's altar: "Do not conform any longer
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."
In response to your surrender, God will do for you what you
cannot achieve by any effort of your own will: He will renew
your mind. He will change the way you think. This includes
your goals, your values, your attitudes, and your priorities. All
will be brought into line with those of God Himself.
This inner change will find expression in your outward
behavior. You will no longer be "conformed," acting like the
unregenerate people all around you. Instead, you will be
"transformed," and begin to demonstrate in your conduct the
very nature and character of God.
Until you begin to experience this renewal of your mind,
there are many wonderful things God has planned for you that
you cannot discover. In Romans 8:7 Paul calls the old,
unrenewed mind "the carnal mind," which is "enmity against
God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it
be" (KJV). God will not reveal His secrets or open up His
treasures to a mind at enmity with Him. But when your mind is
renewed, you will begin to discover all that God has planned for
your life.
This unfolding of God's plan to your renewed mind will be
progressive. Paul uses three words for it: good, pleasing, perfect.
Your first discovery will be that God's plan for you is always
good. God never plans anything bad or harmful for any of His
children. In making this discovery, you will probably have to
reject the devil's lies. He will be very insistent in suggesting that
full surrender to God will cost you everything that is interesting
and exciting in fife. He will whisper negative insinuations to
your mind: "You'll have to give up everything you enjoy.... You'll
be no better than a slave.... That kind of life leaves no room for
fun.... You'll lose all your friends.... Your personality will never
develop...." and so on.
In fact, the opposite is true. Not merely is God's plan good; it is
also pleasing. Full surrender to God is the gateway into a fife filled
with challenges and pleasures that cannot be experienced in any
other way. Over the years I have met many Christians who made
this kind of surrender. I have never yet met one who regretted it.
As you continue to progress in your discovery of God's plan,
you will go beyond the good and the pleasing to the perfect. Fully
embraced, God's plan is perfect. Complete. There are no
omissions. It covers every area of your life, meets every need,
satisfies every longing.
The Holy Spirit lead me to read this in a book. He is ministering in to my heart exactly this of the couple of days. I want o encourage you in this post and He wants to show you things that is available for those are cruelly surrender to listen His voice His plan (porpouse) for each are of our life. Even is your career, family, marriage, decisions to be made and so on.
Blessings.
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God’s plan works!
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