A Radical Call

It is a beautiful, sunny day. A bit cold, but a beautiful day nonetheless.

We just returned from our morning church service. It has been five weeks since I have been able to be a part of corporate worship. What a blessing!

This morning, our pastor's message was called Sacrifice Your Body, based on Romans 12:1-2. I really like it when our pastor lets them have it. When he really challenges them to heed the Word of God and to obey its commands. Actually, I am kidding. He really challenged me personally to think about these verses and what it means to apply them to the way I think and act on a daily basis.

Paul writes,

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. 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.

I was particular challenged by our pastor's description of these verses as a radical call to believers. To be a living sacrifice involves 100% dedication. A total surrender of one's life. Our pastor is right when he says that we really haven't grasped this concept in America. Otherwise our lives, our families, our churches, and our communities would look radically different.

This week, I am going to be thinking and praying about what it means for me to be a living sacrifice. I will be reading ahead to see what Paul writes in the rest of his letter to the Romans. I am going to pray that God will use His Word and, by His Spirit, transform my life - beginning with the way that I think.