Aly is the speaker this week. Yay! The pastor is in Eastern Europe doing mission work.
Living life from the inside out has three steps: engage, transform, and respond.
We tend to think of transformation as a magical, all-at-once process; but, it’s not.
We are always transforming - we can conform to the pattern of the world or be renewed in Christ’s image.
Transformation is a two-part process. The first part is sacrifice. Sacrifice is part of thanking God. Sacrifice is our part of the covenant. God’s acceptance of our sacrifice seals the covenant.
We always have to give something up to go somewhere else. Life is like this.
Why does Paul say offer your bodies? The sacrifice we are called to is tangible. In Anatomy of the Soul, the author, Curt Thompson, states our bodies are part of the process.
Our habitual thoughts and behaviors build patterns - well worn paths - in our brains. Offering our body as a living sacrifice to God allows the Holy Spirit to transform those patterns. But we work with the Holy Spirit to build new pathways.
To be transformed, we have to offer up ourselves.
The second part is discerning God’s will. The rest of Romans 12 is God’s will. Your homework for this week is to read and pray on that to do list at least twice. Pick one thing of that list to be your thing for now. Share this decision with someone.
What will you sacrifice? What part of His will will you tackle first?
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