JUN 11

1 Corinthians 1:31
Memorise Romans 12:1
“… glory ye in his holy name..”

We know that service must be our natural response to what God has done for us in saving us. However, how do we serve Christ? In particular, how much of ourselves should we dedicate to serving God? Do we dedicate only our Sundays? Scripture teaches us about this in Romans 12:1 “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.”

Romans 12:1 makes reference to the sacrifices that were performed in OT times. In the sacrifices, an animal was given wholly as a sacrifice to God. The whole being, the life of the animal itself was presented. An analogy is drawn to the modern day believer. The believer’s life is to be dedicated entirely for service, in similar fashion, albeit, as a living sacrifice, not as a dead one. In other words, as long as the believer is alive, his entire being, his very life is to be given over to the service of Christ. In such a manner, the believer no longer takes ownership of his own life. Every wish and desire is subsumed under the interest of the service of Christ. Wow! Is that really the standard required? Seems like a tall order doesn’t it? Actually, the Bible describes it as nothing more than our “reasonable service”. Hence, if a believer gives his life to be martyred for the name of Christ, he has only performed a reasonable service.

This brings us to our passage for today in 1 Corinthians 1:31. If we can truly fulfil the standard in Romans 12:1, which is not easy, we would have nothing to boast of in ourselves. It would only be reasonable service. However, it does not mean that we cannot glory. Sometimes, in service, we see the fruits of the work and it makes us glad. We should naturally glory, however, 1 Corinthians 1:31 tells that if there is anything that we can glory of, it should be in the Lord. Hence, even when there is something to glory of, we should take no glory for ourselves; indeed, we cannot take any credit for ourselves. Instead, we give all credit and glory to God, for saving us, for calling us to serve Him, for giving us the grace and strength to serve Him, for using us to bless others, for the privilege of being part of God’s sovereign plan. All because God enabled us.

Thought: We do not need any credit to be truly happy.
Prayer: Father, thank You for choosing to use me to serve You.