Monday, June 25, 2012

How do we know the will of God for our lives. Many Christians struggle with this and spend a lot of time trying all sorts of things and still don't know God's purpose for their life. Of course, there are many factors that fit together to help us understand who we are and what our purpose and calling in life is. Romans 12:1-2 gives us the way to know God's will.

"And so dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice - the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don't copy the behaviours and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.   Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good pleasing and perfect."

Paul says that because of all God has done for us, because Jesus laid down his life for us, and since God has made us part of his family through Christ, because of all this, we are to present ourselves to God as a living sacrifice. We are to worship God, by living a life pleasing to him. A sacrifice means giving up our life, the things we want and the way we were living,  for the cause of the Kingdom. Paul goes on to say, don't live like everyone else does, don't copy what others are doing. Its easy to get caught up in what everyone else is doing, but we are to live differently.

As a living sacrifice, worshipping God by the way we live, we are to allow God into our lives and to change the way we think. This means getting God's perspective on how we think. We are no longer to think the way others do, or to chase after the things of this world. This is a challenge because our culture is very materialistic. Our culture says that money and material gain are important. But Paul says we cannot be like this or think like this, we must be different.

When we choose to be a a living sacrifice, when we allow God in and we begin to change the way we think, when we begin to live in transformation, then we will be able to know what God's will is. God's will for us is good and pleasing, but to know what it is requires us to be truly seeking Him, to be living as he calls us to live. If we want to know the will of God, then live as a living sacrifice, laying down our lives for the kingdom, living differently to the world around us, in short, living according to Romans 12:1-2.

Value

Our value does not come from what we do but from who we are. We are valuable because we exist, because we are, not because we do. We are fearfully and wonderfully made, created in the image of God and according to his divine plan and purpose. In fact God had us in mind before he created us and formed us. He made us as his masterpiece and we are incredibly valuable to him. We should never underestimate our worth in his eyes. For this reason, and because we are valuable to God, we show our gratitude by living in obedience to him, and by doing what he has called us to do. Eph 2:8-10