A Most Proper Response

Daily Bread

Daily Bread Devotions by Chuck Myer Daily Bread Archive | Sign up for our resources

Praise and thanksgiving to our Father in heaven and to the Lord Jesus Christ, who sits at the right hand of the Father, He who is our Advocate, our great High Priest. As the new morning dawns such attention, turned toward our great God, sets the proper tone for the day. May His will be done in each of our lives.

I would draw your attention to this Bible text from Romans, chapter 12,

“I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” (Romans 12:1 – NASB)

The apostle Paul is “urging” his “brethren,” his brothers and sisters in Christ, to do something. He desires that they “present (their) bodies a living and holy sacrifice,” one that is “acceptable to God.” He says to them that this “is your spiritual service of worship.”

Paul’s calling to believers in Rome comes after he has written eleven chapters already, eleven chapters regarding “the mercies of God.” One can tell by his use of the word “therefore” that what Paul is asking is based on what he has already written to them; “based on the mercies of God which I have given to you . . . do this!”

Ah, “the mercies of God,” so very evident as one reads the first eleven chapters of the book of Romans. When I think of how one would define these “mercies” to say, a fellow believer or, for that matter, even to a non-believer, without giving them the entire eleven chapters, three verses stand out in my mind regarding “the mercies of God.”

First,

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 – NASB)

Second,

“For the wages of sin is death . . .” (Romans 6:23a – NASB)

Thirdly,

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 – NASB)

And in conclusion, though “the wages of sin is death,” because of God’s “love toward us . . . in . . . Christ” who “died for us,”

“. . . the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23b – NASB)

Oh what blessed words! These are words I put to memory years ago and they never cease to be a blessing in my life. And based on these precious words, these words that tell us our condition before God, and the “wages” due that condition, “God demonstrate(ed) His own love toward us” in sending His Son Jesus, the “Christ,” who “died for us.”

This is the “therefore.” This is the meat of why Paul calls out to each and every believer, “I urge you, therefore, brethren,” based on “the mercies of God” which I have shared with you, “present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice , acceptable to God.” This is the proper response that “is your spiritual service of worship.” And appropriately so . . . for we were separated from God by our sin, and thus existing in a state of “death,” with the wrath of God due each one of us (see Ephesians 2:1-4) . . . “But God . . . .”

That’s what Paul writes in Ephesians 2:4 also, “But God . . .” (Ephesians 2:4). And so, a proper urging, would you not agree brethren, if you have tasted of the glorious redemptive power of God in Christ?

Have a good day brethren . . . and as you walk seek to be a holy and acceptable sacrifice to God, a sacrifice that is a sweet aroma to Him who has loved us in Christ.

A Room with a View of Eternity—The Last Will & Testament of Jesus Christ Take a seat at the Master's table. Learn about the riches He gives to all who are His. This book will bless and encourage you, give you hope, and help you live in the joy of your salvation and the riches of Christ that are yours.