“I beseech (invite) you
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans
12:1-2).
The saving grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ spiritually births a person who did not previously exist, a person
invited rather than commanded to “present your bodies a living sacrifice”
(Romans 12:1).
“If any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold, all things are
become new” (II Corinthians 5:17).
“In Christ” comprises
the primary feature of this new person, that is, God unites our innermost being
with the Spirit of the Lord Jesus.
“He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit” (I Corinthians
6:17). We become His temple wherein
God does not merely sit on a throne.
He rather works in us to effect ongoing change and the inclination for
faithful obedience that characterizes Christ Himself. “I will dwell in them and walk in them”
(II Corinthians 6:16).
Believing this
Biblical truth presents one of the great challenges faced by every
believer. The contrary lusts of the
flesh are much with us, even as the Apostle Paul confessed, “I see another law
in my members, warring against the law of my mind” (Romans 7:23). Conversely, we don’t always “see” the
Holy Spirit’s working in us to will and to do of God’s good pleasure. Our flesh screams and whispers to us of
its desires. Our spirit tends to be
far quieter as the “still, small voice” of the Holy Spirit promises to infuse in
us the delight of Christ for obedience to our Heavenly Father. Will we believe, amid the fleshly din,
that regardless of all evidence to the contrary, our truest desire is to fulfill
the glory and will of God?
Rightly answering this question
provides a key component in the establishment of a growing faithfulness to
God. It is He who declares in His
Word that a transforming work of grace exists in the part of us that is the very
heart of us. Whether we
increasingly experience the truth of delight for obedience therefore hinges on
the same faith that began our relationship with God. Will we believe in the Lord Jesus? This time, the issue involves not
forgiveness and the assurance of going to Heaven some day, but rather the living
of life in this day. A living, dynamic Savior dwells and
walks in us. As a free gift of
grace, His delight for obedience is our delight for obedience. This we must believe, and as we do, we
shall discover yet again the wonders of a salvation and a Savior who provides
for us “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (II Peter
1:3).
Unto such blessed
ones, invitation rather than command is the most appropriate beckoning. God calls us to the “reasonable service”
of fulfilling the truest delight of our Christ-inhabited hearts. What could be more “reasonable” that
this? We are chocolate lovers, as
it were, invited to a chocolate tasting!
Again, this we must
believe. As we do, we shall
discover in practical experience the truth of our redeemed selves in
Christ.
Tomorrow: an
example of the outworking of such faith in everyday life.
“If we live in
the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
(Galatians
5:25)
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