Reasonable Worship (Rom 12:1)

I therefore urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercies, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices that are holy and pleasing to God, for this is the reasonable way for you to worship. - Romans 12:1

Every time we move into the New Year, it is common for people to make all sorts of resolutions and goals.

And while I'm sure each of you have some great New Year's resolutions lined up, I want to submit to you a resolution that's probably never crossed your mind before.

This year it is my resolution to be more logically consistent.

Yes, I know I'm strange. But hear me out.

The end of Romans 12:1 is translated logikēn latreian which means literally "reasonable (or logical) service"

In other words, as Christians, offering our bodies as living sacrifices to God is quite simply the most sensible, reasonable, logical thing we could do.

Once we understand what Christ has done for us - and what He has revealed to us - it no longer makes sense to live life the same way we always have.

As Paul says, we have been imparted "a secret and hidden wisdom of God" (1 Cor 2:7). If our lives look like the lives of those who have not been imparted this hidden wisdom, then something is very wrong.

As Christians - if we are indeed Christians - we have been born again (John 3:3). We have died and our lives are now hidden with Christ in God (Col 3:3). We have been crucified to this world (Gal 6:14). We have willingly laid down our own lives only to take up the Eternal Life of Christ.

We have stepped into a new reality. No longer are we bound by the customs, regulations, or lifestyles imposed by this fallen world.

If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations — “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (Col 2:20-21)

The Cross turns the world upside down. The first become last and the last become first. The poor become rich and the rich become poor. Those who do not see gain their sight and those who see become blind.

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. - Matt 16:25

The most illogical, unreasonable, nonsensical thing we could possibly do, is to call ourselves Christians and live a sort of life that resembles everybody else.

If you're reading this, and none of this strikes a chord - if you've never experienced the revelation that God has redeemed you from your sins and saved you from a life of frustration, vanity, and brokenness, then I invite you to make 2024 the year that all changes. I don't care if you're an atheist, agnostic, or if you've called yourself a Christian all your life. Commit (or recommit) your life to God now, mean it with all your mind and heart, and I promise you that nothing will ever be the same.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. - Rev 3:20

Seek Him with all your heart, and you will find Him. I stake my very existence on the truth of this statement.

“Enter by the narrow gate.

For the gate is wide and the way is easy

that leads to destruction,

and those who enter by it are many.

For the gate is narrow and the way is hard

that leads to life,

and those who find it are few.

Matt 7:13-14