16/3/21 Day 24

TODAY'S VERSE: 16/3/21 Day 24

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. 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.

Romans 12:1-2


TODAY'S DEVOTION:

The Apostle Paul spent the first 11 chapters of Romans exposing our sin, revealing our need for salvation, and pointing us all to the saving power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In chapter 12, as if in response to the question, “So, now what do I do?”, Paul urges us to worship, not with hymn or song or lengthy prayer, but by offering our lives as a living sacrifice. We are to take our pride and our selfish desires and lay them upon the altar of the Lord, to worship God by giving Him our whole hearts and dedicating our lives to serving Him. We must reject conformity and the ways of this world and embrace transformation and the renewing of our minds so that we may know God’s good and perfect will.

But the problem with a living sacrifice is that it tends to crawl off of the altar as soon as we turn our backs. We offer our lives in great sincerity, but that sacrifice just won’t stay put. This is why Jesus says if we are to follow Him we need to take up our cross daily. This kind of worship that Paul is urging us toward is not a once and for all thing. It is not even an only on Sunday morning thing. This kind of worship is an everyday thing. Because the reality is, if we stay facing the altar, that living sacrifice is more likely to stay put.   

Jessy Vera
Worship Arts Minister – Hope Waukee

TODAY'S PRAYER

Lord, teach us to lay our lives upon your altar as a living sacrifice everyday. May we reject conformity and embrace transformation so that we may know your good and perfect will for our lives. Amen.



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