ÒI 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.Ó (Romans 12:1)< ?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>

< ?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>Satisfaction has taken place over your sacrificial living for God. Being conformed to the world around you has taken over your commitment unto God. What is your destination in the journey of life? Day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year, have you really considered that serving God is why you are alive? Romans 12:1, ÒI 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.Ó The scriptural passage did not say, ÔPresent your bodies a living satisfied.Õ You know exactly what it says. Living satisfied is to have eliminated a sacrificial living for God. In the name of God, and by designed interpretation of the word of God, some believers have found a way out to justify a satisfied living that suits them. Many are being carried away by their way of life rather than by the ways of God. Psalm 145:17, ÒThe LORD is righteous in all His ways, Gracious in all His works.Ó God does have a required and specified standard in living for Him. The standard is to serve Him, and to serve God is to love God. Deuteronomy 6:5, ÒYou shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.Ó Agreed, you know about this word, but it is not enough if you know but do not do. Living satisfied with the world around you is to have eliminated a sacrificial life. Until you begin to live a sacrificial life for God, you cannot live a holy life. Living a sacrificial life will take you out of the world of sin because all that is considered as fun and free cannot add up for you. Living a sacrificial life is the only acceptable way before God and there is no lowering of standards. What God sees is reasonable service, not seasonal service.

Conformity to this world will take away your commitment. If being committed to the things and work of God becomes inconvenient, then convenience will take over your commitment to God. Romans 12:2, 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.Ó  

Questions: Have you been acting in accordance with current customs and modes of the world around you? Do any of your values correspond in form or character with the world around you? Are you complying or in constant agreement, or accord, with the world around you? The word of God encourages watching and praying. Are you watching for all the signs that can line you up in conformity with the world around you? God will not lower His standard and requirement for salvation. Can you imagine a computer? There will be no amount of effort for you to enter into a file or folder if you lack the right password. There is a password to heaven and that password is to live the ways of God, and you will end up in the will of God. Your battle ground is your mind. The mind is where the enemy targets. The enemy knows that when the mind is taken, you are a done deal. It is evident in the word of God that the mind is the prime target of the enemy. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, ÒBut even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.Ó This clarifies why you should be allowing a constant renewing of your mind, being active by constantly spending time on the word out of your convenience time, also sacrificially being away from the world of sin and being in fellowship with others. Jeremiah 24:7, ÒThen I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.Ó God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Ask Him to give you a heart to know Him, not just to know about Him. He is not a partial God. A heart that knows God will trust Him; a heart that trusts God will obey Him; a heart that obeys God will serve Him; a heart that serves Him will follow Him fully. To follow Him fully is to live a sacrificial life and that is the one that God recognizes, the reasonable one.

The affairs of the world have taken over the fear of God in the heart of man

Tunde S.