Rom 12:1,”…. present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
We have been meditating this whole month of December, 2022 in all our meetingson the above verses in order to know the real meaning of worship.
We see that the word worship in the Bible was used at first in Genesis 22:5 wherein Abraham said to his servant that he is going to worship with Issac although he was not having any musical instruments but the perhaps a sword or knife, no song book rather a resolute mind to offer his only son to God. Sowhat kind of Worship it was? Obedience
Why did God put this test before Abraham? Because he wanted a devoted heart, fulfilment of his very first command in Abraham’s life- You shall have no other gods before me (Exodus 20:3) thus taking Issac out of his heart and restoring his heart as His chosen altar.
What sacrifice we can give to God? Our Body is His (1 Cor.6:15, Gen 1:27), all our possessions are His (Haggai 2:8, Eccl 5:19) Everything He has given to us. He wants us to live an obedient life (Matt 7:21), a heart free from all evils (Lev. 1:12 Heb 12:14) and full of only His praises (Heb 13:15-16)
Rom 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but 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.
1 Thessalonians 5:21, “But test everything; hold fast what is good.”
2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”
We know that God’s wants us to be conformed to the image of Christ, His son (Romans 8:28-30) through the test of our faith in Him.
We are to be transformed by the renewal of our minds to discern God’s will. It’s not one time transformation or chastening but continuous and we can know the will of God only by the continuous tests and trials that we face in our Christian walk in this world. Holy Spirit sanctifies us and renews us in our failures and our perseverance in continue to follow His commands makes us to know as well as do His will.
Prayer:
Lord, help us to be transformed from our world pleasing image to your true image reflecting Jesus through our every action and deed for we know that this is your perfect will for us. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Sol. Neha