Devotion for Monday, January 6, 2014
Romans 12:1

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Have you ever noticed that your body isn’t always on your side when it comes to wanting to please God? If we ended up doing exactly what our bodies desired every time it had a desire not only would it displease God, it would destroy us.

Today’s verse starts us on a two day journey that begins to change our thinking in regards to our bodies and what we should do with it.

The Bible tells us to “present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice.” This is a big ask. Why should we or would we do something like that?

Notice what he pleads with them by- the mercies of of God. Why would he plead with them appealing to God’s mercy? Well, if he had appealed to them by the justice of God then that would mean we would have to present our bodies as a “living sacrifice” to be right with God.
Here is awesome news- we don’t have to do good things to be right with God! We can be right with God because of what Christ did on the cross. He paid for our sins by shedding his blood for us on the cross, and then proved He could save us from death by rising again from the dead Himself!
When we accept this gift of salvation by faith God justifies us…He declares us righteous based on Christ’s righteousness. By this we have access to the mercy and grace of God- mercy in not getting what we deserve, eternal separation from God, and grace by getting what we don’t deserve, becoming adopted into God’s family and spending eternity with Him forever. With such an incredible gift given to those who receive Christ, the only response that makes sense is to give Him our bodies.

Application:

God gives us the eternal- justifcation that leads to heaven.
We respond by giving us the temporary- our bodies to be used for Him!