God’s word is our foundation for life. The Lord led the
children of Israel through the desert for 40 years and the Father spoke to
Moses telling him that He humbled the children of Israel, causing them to
hunger and then feeding them with manna, which neither them nor their ancestors
had known, to teach them that man does not live on bread alone but on every
word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. (Deuteronomy 8:3) God is the same
yesterday, today, and forever! He leads us through this life and gives us His
word to live by. His word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Psalm
119:105) so let’s take a look at what we can learn from this portion of Paul’s
letter to the believers in Rome.
Paul has a strong word for the Romans right off the bat: present
your bodies as living sacrifices to the Lord. Whoa! Living sacrifices move so
they must be tied down or otherwise restrained to keep them from moving.
Sacrifice is unpleasant but when we exchange our will for God’s perfect will,
the unpleasant sacrifice becomes worthwhile. In his letter to the Corinthian
believers, Paul told them that he is intentional to engage those things which
are uncomfortable…even hurtful…because of his faith. We will not dive into that
right now but as Paul encourages here in chapter 12, we must be determined to
be ready for anything and everything the enemy has planned for us and that the
Lord allows.
Next, Paul says that we ought to live humbly, honoring the
gifts that God has given to each person and using our gifts in accordance with
the faith that the Father has given to us. And do it cheerfully, by the way!
Finally, LOVE! Paul admonishes the believers to love what is
good, to love one another, to love the Lord, to love their enemies, and to just
love life!
Romans 12 teaches us to submit ourselves to God and to love
Him, to be humble and loving toward others. These are great principles for
living.
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