Day 16: Respond In Obedience
Romans 12:1-2 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Devotional · · · Worship is a response of reverence at the revelation of God, acknowledging His worth and realigning us to His reality. In the first half of Romans, Paul reveals just how great God’s mercy toward us is, ending with a beautiful doxology of praise in Romans 11:33-36. It is in view of that amazing mercy that Paul then urges us to respond with true and proper worship— which is no longer about giving an animal sacrifice to pay for our sins, but about giving our whole lives in response to Jesus paying the ultimate price once and for all. So, live in awe-filled and reverent response to the reality of God today. Allow yourself to be transformed by the God-breathed, life-giving truth of Holy Scripture (2 Timothy 3:14-17) and the mind-renewing, life-freeing work of the Holy Spirit (John 14:1-31; Romans 8). Then you will be able to walk in obedience, realigning the pattern of your life to His perfect will.
Prayer · · · Holy and Merciful God, I long to give You reverence because You are most worthy to receive it. Help me to value You above all else because You are my greatest treasure. Help me to bring true and proper worship, giving all I am to You. Help me to live sacrificially, allowing Your Spirit to put any selfish or worldly ways in me to death. May I know more and more of the depths of Your mercy and the goodness of Your will. Continually be renewing my mind Lord, so that I can respond in obedience to Your realigning presence and power in my life. May all that I do point others to You as You transform me from the inside out. This is my spiritual service of worship, showing to the world the great worth and great glory of Christ by the way I live.