To Encourage You

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.”

Some things make no sense. On the other hand, some things make all the sense in the world.  It’s to this dichotomy that the passage above from Romans 12 speaks. I’ve listed the King James Version of this verse here, for I believe it’s a very good rendering of the original Greek, particularly with respect to the word “reasonable.”  Some Bible versions have translated this word “spiritual,” which does not really give a good sense of this word. It’s from the Greek word “logikos.” The word literally means “rational, logical, pertaining to speech or speaking.”  The idea is that as words give logical meaning to thoughts, the things that Paul is telling us here are only logical in the context of the thoughts he is conveying to us.  And what are those thoughts? First, he would have us to think about the incredible, far-reaching, many-faceted mercies of God.  It’s because of God’s incredible mercy that we are not instantly consumed for our sin.  God would be perfectly just in destroying us because of our disobedience toward Him. Paul knew this better than most, for he had formerly been a persecutor of the church and of the Lord Jesus Himself.  Paul talks about this in 1 Timothy 1:12-14 in these words: “I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”  And so Paul is earnestly adjuring us that God is merciful. He is patient. He gives us ways and means to come to our senses about our transgressions, and in His unfathomable mercy He has made a way for us to be forgiven by placing our faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, Whom He sent to earth to die for us.  

But God has not only given us a way to be forgiven, He’s also made a way for us to be clothed with the very righteousness of Christ.  Beyond this, He has filled His Word with His promises that tell us of how He is working all things together for our good, no matter how bad they may look to us at the present.  And He has told us that He is preparing a place for us where we will be with Him forever as joint-heirs of the inheritance that consists of any and all of the possessions of His Son.  It’s all because of His great mercies, mercies that are new every morning, mercies that will continue time without end.  

So, with this wondrous truth as a starting point, Paul is telling us that it’s only reasonable, it only makes any sense, that we present our body to God as a living sacrifice, i.e., a life poured out in service to Him.  You see, we can never do enough to show our gratitude. We can never repay Him for what He has done.  It’s as the hymn says, “He paid a debt he did not owe; I owed a debt I could not pay” and it is because of this infinite gift that we now only have one debt.  It’s what the Bible calls “the continuing debt to love” (Romans 13:8). That ever-outstanding yet wonderful debt is to continually demonstrate love to the God Who first loved us, and love toward our neighbor as one such expression of that godly love. It’s an agape love that can be defined as “self-sacrificial service to others.”  That’s the kind of life we should live, and it’s the only kind of living that makes any sense.  

Paul goes on in Romans 12 to show us what is the opposite of the “reasonable” life, when he says “Do not be conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2a).  To be conformed to the world’s ways, ways that are in total opposition to God, makes absolutely no sense. It’s unreasonable. And so we are told, “be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2b).  Isn’t it only reasonable to choose what is good, acceptable, and perfect in God’s perfect eyes? And isn’t it totally unreasonable to choose that which is evil, unacceptable, and irreparably flawed?  But that’s the choice that lies before each and every one of us. 

So, what is your choice? That which makes absolutely no sense, or that which makes all the sense in the world?