JUN 25

Romans 12:1-2
Memorise Romans 12:2
“...be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind...”

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:1-2)

Do you remember what you read yesterday? “Our Christian life is a logical life!” – and so our service to God is a reasonable service!

The first 11 chapters of Romans present a grand presentation of the gospel. Paul convicts both Jew and Gentile of sin in chapter 1-3. His conclusion in Romans 3:23 explains: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”. In the second part of chapter 3 he presented the gospel (the cure for sin – “righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ” Romans 3:22) – this is justification by faith. The rest of Romans up to chapter 11 dealt with various objections and misunderstanding of the gospel, and also sanctification and glorification.

Chapter 12 is then a logical follow-up of chapters 1-11 – Paul is saying– “in view of what God has done for us, what should we do, logically speaking?” And our answer can only be – “if we have any sense of gratitude at all, we will fall down and worship Him, and love Him with all our hearts, and with all our souls, and with all our minds, and with all our strength!”

How can we be in God’s will? By understanding His will (as set forth in Romans 1-12), and obeying it. We can understand His will intellectually (in our mind) by reading the Bible, but we can fully understand and be in His will only as we love him with all our hearts, souls, mind and strength, and apply what we have read into our lives. We will then begin to realize how sinful the world is, and desire not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed through the refreshment that comes from reading and meditating on God’s Word. In all this, we are discerning the good, acceptable and perfect will of God for our lives. Dear teen, do you see these things happening in your life?

Thought: God gives us our mind, our strength, our will – we want to use all these to glorify Him – then we will be in His will.
Prayer: Lord, You have blessed me with much – help me to use these talents to glorify Your name!