Living Sacrifices Part 1

This will be a weekly post for the next couple of weeks. I did a study of the first two verses of Romans 12 during lent while on a 'Facebook Fast'. This is what I found. I will also be posting my story (whether it's short or not is to be determined) 'Necro' weekly as well.

Living Sacrifices Part 1

While I was 'away' over lent I got to do a fairly in depth study into the first two verses of Romans 12. It was an interesting hiatus from Facebook considering that as soon as I made that decision I sprained my back and then had to deal with children throwing up the rest of that week while I was, for the most part, a non-combatant. However, this study just kept my spirits up and I refused to be defeated emotionally and mentally by it. Some of it is tough to swallow, but it's such a great reminder of who we are as Christians and what we have forgotten and made excuses for in today's world. We are not our own. We were bought at a price. We made the decision to be separate from the world and we need to honor that. Here is part one. For verse one. I will break it down key phrase by key phrase, as I saw them.

Romans 12:1

            Therefore I urge you brothers in view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God- this is your spiritual act of worship.

1. In view of God’s mercy.
   • What is God’s mercy? God offered Christ as a sacrifice (The burnt offering, grain offering, fellowship offering, sin offering, and guilt offering all in one, they were how the Jews asked for forgiveness of sins and cleansing before Christ came) for us out of His love and mercy toward us instead of condemning us to death. God does not want to be separate from us. He made the earth so that he would have a place for us and Him to enjoy together. However, he loved us enough and understands that to truly experience love it has to be given freely. So he placed within our grasp the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He told us to stay away from it because he didn't want to be separated from us, but we had to make that choice. He wants us to choose him and sadly we didn't and still don't, we choose to be apart from him. God saw that all people were rejecting him, including his chosen people, and so he sent the most precious thing he had to earth, His son. 

• His son was human and divine, why? So that he would know and feel every emotion and driving power behind those emotions for himself. He literally walked a mile in our shoes, so he knows what you’ve been through and how it feels, who better to go to with your problems and life aches than someone who not only has experience, but wisdom. Since he knows and understands, when you ask him to give you guidance and are truly seeking it with all your heart in order to do a 180 on whatever problem it is he will know how to help you best, even if you don't want his solution remember it always ends in the same way, peace. Therefore, God’s mercy brings us peace. 

Please seek out Christ prayerfully if you have any questions regarding any of this. This is kind of the bread and butter of it, there is more and it's not so wonderful to hear, but still so many have forgotten the importance of our sacrifice because we desired the benefits of Christ's. We are different and that difference is expected of us. Praise God for that! 

Don't be silent,

Leigha