Thursday, July 16, 2009
Romans 11:33-12:2
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (ESV)
by John H. Camenga
The church sign stated: “The trouble with living sacrifices is they keep trying to crawl off the altar.” The Romans must have been intrigued with the concept of a living sacrifice. They did not need to travel to Jerusalem to know about sacrifices. The pagan world was full of cults that practiced animal (and human) sacrifice. They could even point to examples of volunteer sacrifices. The living sacrifice, however, would give up personal control to be placed permanently at God’s disposal. In an age when many groups preach a gospel of the easy conversion and the comfortable pew, we need to regain the demands of the Gospel as well as its benefits.
Copyright Information
Daily Bible Meditations are taken from The Helping Hand,a Sabbath School student quarterly for youth and adults. Copyright © 2010, Seventh Day Baptist Board of Christian Education, Inc.
Scripture quotations marked "ESV" are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Text provided by the Crossway Bibles Web Service.
