Romans 12:1-3 says "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer 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."
1. Notice how Paul begins this passage by saying, "I urge you... in view of God's mercy." This means an awareness of God's mercy tends to soften our hearts toward Him. What are five specific and significant mercies God has shown you personally?
2. When you've forgotten His mercies in the past and yielded to your own desires while ignoring His, how do you think He has felt? Think of some of the specific feelings He's had when you've grieved Him.
3. Why do you think His feelings haven't mattered enough to you in the past to keep you from deliberate transgression?
4. How would you describe a man who lives his life as though he truly is a "living sacrifice"? How do you think the concept of "living sacrifice" affects his speech and behavior?
5. How will being a "living sacrifice" change the way you personally act, speak, and think?
Here are some good ideas for how to take this line of thinking with you into prayer:
Father, the more I think about it, the more I am amazed by Your patience. I see more than ever how I have taken the body you gave me and treated it as though I was it's creator, designer, and owner. I've chosen to ignore Your ownership when it's suited my purposes, then clung to it when I've needed your protection and grace. I've been a disciple when it's been convenient, which means I've been no disciple at all. But more than ever, I hunger for a disciple's heart. Replace this rebel attitude with the mind that was in Christ Jesus, who humbled Himself and became obedient even to the cross. In my own strength, I'll never attain that mind or follow that path. But through Your ongoing work in me, I look forward to doing what I, apart from You, could never accomplish.
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