Mike Focht 6/6/2025
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.
Romans 12:1-2
Here, we find the well-worn path to Christian maturity. Paul is begging these Roman believers to offer themselves to God to be made living sacrifices pleasing to God. Allow me to remind you about three spiritual truths related to this path.
First, God is merciful. The reality these familiar Scriptures speak of may seem far from our practical experience and, if we are honest, even unrealistic. Even so, rest assured God’s mercies will join our journey! There has never been a single Christian who knew the reality of this exhortation without God’s mercy helping them get there. Do we feel like it would be a miracle for any of this to be real in us? We should! Realizing the miraculous mercy of God to help sinners learn His ways is the first step on the right path. God be merciful to me a sinner! is the gateway to this path. Paul knew God’s mercy personally and prayed for God to shower the same mercy on these Roman believers.
Second, God is looking for literal bodies. God the Father is a spirit. Jesus Christ is in heaven at the Father’s right hand. The Holy Spirit is with us and wants to work in this world, but He, too, is spirit and does not have a body. God is looking for literal human bodies that His Holy Spirit can work through.
As our bodies were once given to sin, and self-centered indulgence, now we must surrender our entire body to God. God takes great joy in redeeming a body that was once an instrument of wickedness and, through His Holy Spirit, changing it into an instrument of righteousness. Don’t allow the shame of what your body has done in the past to keep you from surrendering it now to God’s will. A living sacrifice will always be pleasing to Him.
Third, we cannot allow our minds to conform to this evil age's thoughts, intentions, cultures, and habits. The eternal will of God and the wicked will of this world will always have conflict. The eternal culture of heaven will always clash with the passing cultures of this world. The world will see a biblical stance on just about any hot cultural issue as bigoted, old-fashioned, foolish, or repressive. Accept God’s thoughts and reject the world’s thoughts. Seek to fill your mind with God’s truth in relation to men, women, gender, marriage, sex, etc. Rest your mind on the eternal Word of God. Wash your mind in the water of God’s Word. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Study the Bible. The whole Bible. Every book. Every verse.
Finally, this surrender must be a surrender of our whole life. If we only seek to have God help us in relation to specific and immediate problems like porn, marital friction, addiction, or temper, but we don’t care what God has to say about our speech, parenting, prayer, entertainment, worship, service, or friendships we are bound to fail. God will secure our holiness when He secures us—all of us. God knows there is no sense in putting a band-aid on a cut when the infection is killing us on the inside. Our Creator designed us to live our entire lives in His image and likeness. Surrender is experienced in parts but only sincere in whole. May God, in His great mercy, strengthen us to surrender all our hearts, souls, minds, and bodies as living sacrifices.