Rom 12:1 | KingComments | STEP | . If you have considered all that God has done for you, how much He loves you and how merciful He is, you can only exclaim: ‘Lord, here I am, fill my life!’ God expects you to show in your life that you understand something of the teaching you have received. You didn’t read these teachings as lessons merely to memorize them. What you have seen are “the mercies of God”. You have experienced them for yourself, and this is what Paul takes for granted when he sets out to teach you how to live as a Christian for God’s honor. can each be summarized with one word: is dedication and is obedience. Since you have accepted the Lord Jesus, God has a right to your whole life. It shouldn’t be difficult for you to present your body “a living and holy sacrifice” when you think of what God has done for you. So Paul points to “the mercies of God”. It is a joy to God’s heart when His mercies are answered with the sacrifice of your body, when dedication and submission are manifested in your life. At one time you used your body to live for yourself. You were willing to receive honor for yourself because of the things you did and who you were. But your body is no longer yours. In 1 Corinthians 6 you read: “You have been bought with a price”, the price the Lord Jesus paid, and therefore you should “glorify God in your body” ( ). This is what the “holy” is all about. “Holy” means to be set apart for a certain object. Your body has been set apart with the object of glorifying God in it and with it. How can you do this? In the way you treat your body and in what you do with it! God wants to see in your life the life of the Lord Jesus when He was here on earth. Then the sacrifice of your body will be pleasing to God as was the case with the Lord Jesus. On several occasions, God has let it be heard several times from heaven about the Lord Jesus: “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased” ( ). This pleasure is what God is looking for in your life. God would not be pleased by an occasional pious mood or feeling without giving a thought to what you’re really doing. It is a “spiritual service of worship”, or, as it also can be translated, a “rational service”. This means it’s a way of life in which you’re conscious of everything you’re doing and not doing for the Lord. Your decisions are made in His presence. . This is important because it’s easy to let yourself be led by what’s common in the world around you. God wants to make His will clear to you. Do you ask for His will in all things? Your whole life, the way you behave, talk, act, dress and treat people, shouldn’t be conformed to this world, but must be changed completely. You don’t have to decide the way in which this change should take place. This happens from the “renewing of your mind”. Your mind used to be self-centered, but by the new life and the attitude from your new life, you now can be God-centered. Paul wrote this as an exhortation, so it’s not an automatic change. You have to devote yourself to it to let this transformation take place. If you’re recently converted you may count on God’s patience. Not everything in which you were conformed to in this world will immediately be removed from you. God will show this to you step by step. If you have been converted for a longer time, you also need this exhortation. You can’t escape the influence of this world. Therefore, you must always make this transformation true. Is that what you want to do? That’s what it comes down to. Only then will you be able to “prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect”. Knowing His will is an absolute necessity to show God’s mercies in your life. What a rich life will be yours if you learn to look at it this way! Now read Romans 12:1-2 again. Reflection: Are there things in your life that you know must be changed to please God?

‏ Romans 12:1

Be Transformed

Rom 12:1. If you have considered all that God has done for you, how much He loves you and how merciful He is, you can only exclaim: ‘Lord, here I am, fill my life!’ God expects you to show in your life that you understand something of the teaching you have received. You didn’t read these teachings as lessons merely to memorize them. What you have seen are “the mercies of God”. You have experienced them for yourself, and this is what Paul takes for granted when he sets out to teach you how to live as a Christian for God’s honor.

Rom 12:1 ; 2 can each be summarized with one word: Rom 12:1 is dedication and Rom 12:2 is obedience. Since you have accepted the Lord Jesus, God has a right to your whole life. It shouldn’t be difficult for you to present your body “a living and holy sacrifice” when you think of what God has done for you. So Paul points to “the mercies of God”. It is a joy to God’s heart when His mercies are answered with the sacrifice of your body, when dedication and submission are manifested in your life.

At one time you used your body to live for yourself. You were willing to receive honor for yourself because of the things you did and who you were. But your body is no longer yours. In 1 Corinthians 6 you read: “You have been bought with a price”, the price the Lord Jesus paid, and therefore you should “glorify God in your body” (1Cor 6:20). This is what the “holy” is all about. “Holy” means to be set apart for a certain object. Your body has been set apart with the object of glorifying God in it and with it.

How can you do this? In the way you treat your body and in what you do with it! God wants to see in your life the life of the Lord Jesus when He was here on earth. Then the sacrifice of your body will be pleasing to God as was the case with the Lord Jesus. On several occasions, God has let it be heard several times from heaven about the Lord Jesus: “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17 ; Mt 17:5). This pleasure is what God is looking for in your life. God would not be pleased by an occasional pious mood or feeling without giving a thought to what you’re really doing. It is a “spiritual service of worship”, or, as it also can be translated, a “rational service”. This means it’s a way of life in which you’re conscious of everything you’re doing and not doing for the Lord. Your decisions are made in His presence.

Rom 12:2. This is important because it’s easy to let yourself be led by what’s common in the world around you. God wants to make His will clear to you. Do you ask for His will in all things? Your whole life, the way you behave, talk, act, dress and treat people, shouldn’t be conformed to this world, but must be changed completely. You don’t have to decide the way in which this change should take place. This happens from the “renewing of your mind”. Your mind used to be self-centered, but by the new life and the attitude from your new life, you now can be God-centered.

Paul wrote this as an exhortation, so it’s not an automatic change. You have to devote yourself to it to let this transformation take place. If you’re recently converted you may count on God’s patience. Not everything in which you were conformed to in this world will immediately be removed from you. God will show this to you step by step. If you have been converted for a longer time, you also need this exhortation. You can’t escape the influence of this world. Therefore, you must always make this transformation true. Is that what you want to do? That’s what it comes down to.

Only then will you be able to “prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect”. Knowing His will is an absolute necessity to show God’s mercies in your life. What a rich life will be yours if you learn to look at it this way!

Now read Romans 12:1-2 again.

Reflection: Are there things in your life that you know must be changed to please God?