Offer our bodies as the living sacrifice

In Romans 12:1-2, Paul urges us to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to God.  We are to break free from the patterns of the world around us and transform by the renewing of our minds.  This opens our eyes to God’s will and it pleases Him.  

            Therefore, as a sacrifice to God, we don’t want to fill our bodies with things that can destroy our offering.  For example, if I am giving a gift to someone special, I care for the item and wrap it in pretty wrapping paper or a nice bag.   However, how often do we destroy our living sacrifice (our gift) to God by not eating or exercising right, smoking, drinking, listening to perverse music, watching shows filled with cursing and nudity, or worse.  We should want our offering to God to be better than any other gift we have ever given.  We should want to make this gift (our body) to be beautiful, clean, and pure. 

Romans 12  (NIV)

"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."

Watered Gardens Rescue Mission Willard Learning Center - Fourstateshomepage.com

Watered Gardens Rescue Mission Willard Learning Center - Fourstateshomepage.com

Jesus Through the Bible - Tony Evans

Isaiah 11:1-5

Today, a homeless man told me he finished reading Isaiah 11:1-5.  

"A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
    the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and of might,
    the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
    or decide by what he hears with his ears;
4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
    with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
    with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness will be his belt
    and faithfulness the sash around his waist." - Isaiah 11:1-5

Then, the man told me as he meditated on the word, God gave him this message: 

"If you will believe, I will be more than what you will ever need in any one given moment in your life without limitation!"