Be Transformed
By The Renewing
Of Your Minds
I
appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to
present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is
your spiritual worship. Do not be confirmed to this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God
– what is good and acceptable and perfect.
For
by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself
more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each
according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we
have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who
are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members, one of
another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us:
prophesy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in
teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader,
in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
We
are often told to give our hearts or our lives to Christ. Paul called our
attention to our bodies. If we are to carry out God’s will, it will be with our
bodies. We also offer God our bodies as a response to His love.
The
body is a gift worthy of God.
Consider
the human hand. Nothing has ever been created that is quite so complex and no
one could ever improve on it. And God gave us two of them. The same is true of
our eyes, and really when you get right down to it, any part of our bodies. God
will gift us in a number of ways, but it is the brain, the eye and the hand
that makes wonderful music. It is the eye, the legs and the brain that make
great dancers. It is the brain, the eye, and the voice that make great orators.
We are given gifts. If we let Him, God will show us how to use the gifts he has
given us.
This
Christmas, give God something beautiful. Offer him not just your heart, but
your hands, body, spirit, mind – your entire being!
Jesus gave us all He had; we must give Him all we have.
Our Daily Bread –
December 22, 2005