WHAT TO DO WITH BODY AND MIND
Romans 12:1-2 NKJV
12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Paul is now delving into the practical part of his letter to the Roman believers. And there is some marvelous revelation in these last few chapters.
Our verses for today are extremely important in regard to living the Christian life. The Holy Spirit, through Paul, is letting us know that receiving Christ as Savior is the beginning of our life with God. God provided the salvation and the means by which faith came so that we could receive Jesus as Lord. Now that we have been saved and have entered this life with Christ, how do we walk this salvation out?
Present our bodies a living sacrifice to God that our bodies may be holy and acceptable to Him. We are the ones who carry this out. A living sacrifice indicates that we are saying no to some of our fleshly desires that are not pure and right in God’s sight. Remember, when Paul penned these words, the Roman believers were coming out of a pagan background where sexual promiscuity was the norm. If someone had been steeped in these activities, then stopping would be a sacrifice. And, of course, that goes for many of the other habits and practices that were part of the old way of living. Paul gives a comprehensive list of these unacceptable actions in the fifth chapter of Galatians as he describes the works of the flesh.
So believers are to do something with their bodies. Believers are also directed to do something with their minds. Renewing the mind means a mind renovation. This would include changing the thinking, attitudes, and mindset. Not changing the mindset would cause a believer to be conformed or molded to this world. This is the ungodly world system that was prevalent then and still prevalent today. But genuine transformation takes place as our minds are renewed. Transformation is from the same word that we get metamorphosis. It is what happens when a caterpillar spins a cocoon and then comes out as a beautiful butterfly. The caterpillar is transformed. When someone begins to pursue God and His ways and thoughts, the transformation process starts.
APPLICATION
What Paul shared in these two verses is some of the most powerful activities we engage in as believers. To see life change, we must do something with our bodies and minds. We are constantly applying God’s Word to our thought processes and then practicing what we have learned. We are constantly having to present our bodies as a holy acceptable living sacrifice to God. But if we don’t activate these two areas, nothing will be done. God will not force us to say no to our fleshly desires. And God will not force us to think differently. These are our choices.
The great news is that God has equipped us with everything we need to carry out both the presenting of our bodies and the renewing of our minds. We have the inspired Word of God and the powerful Holy Spirit to help us and strengthen us. Oh, and this is a continual process. No one has arrived at complete Christ-like perfection. So we keep at it. We keep presenting our bodies, and we continually renew our minds.
PRAYER
Lord thank You that I have the capacity to present my body as a living sacrifice to You. And thank You that by Your Word and Holy Spirit, my mindset, thinking, and attitude can be renewed, and my life transformed. The end result is that I will look more like You. And that’s a good, good thing!