SUNDAY MARCH 29, 2020.
SUBJECT: COMMIT YOURSELF TOTALLY TO GOD!
Memory verse:
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service."
(Romans 12 vs 1.)
READ: Revelation 3 vs 15 - 16:
3:15: I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.
3:16: So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
INTIMATION:
We cannot measure up to God’s standards. No one has ever measured and will ever measure up to God’s standards except Jesus Christ, who is also God. But God expects us to have some measure of service He considers reasonable. God wants us to offer ourselves as ‘living sacrifices,’ that is daily laying aside our own desires to follow Him, putting all our energy and resources at His disposal and trusting Him to guide us. It is only reasonable to respond with worship to God for His grace that was manifested through the sacrifice of His Son on the cross for our sins. We should offer our lives in sacrificial worship and service to Him.
In view of the fact that God’s grace was poured out for our salvation, our natural response is to obediently comply with the directions of the One who has offered the grace. Therefore, all believers should be motivated to respond to all God has done, and give themselves totally to the One who gave His only begotten Son to them. Committing ourselves totally to God as a living sacrifice should be a natural response of the spiritually-minded individual who has come to know and appreciate the grace of God. As the Levitical Law called for the total consumption of the burnt offering for sin upon the altar of sacrifice, so must believers give their lives totally to God.
We should offer our lives in sacrificial worship to God and service to Him. Those who have not given their lives totally to God have not appreciated the grace of God. If because of His grace God was willing to offer His Son, who was eternal in heaven, then certainly it is not unreasonable that we give to Him the totality of our short life on earth. Commitment to serve Jesus is an everyday work in one’s Christian life. Those who commit themselves to Jesus will not only receive the abundant life in this life, they will also reap eternal life in the new heavens and earth to come.
It is the mind of flesh to reason that one can give anything less than the totality of his or her life and still believe that God’s grace will reward him or her of his or her lukewarm commitment. Just as lukewarm water makes a disgusting drink, so also is a Christian who is half-hearted, following God halfway. We should give ourselves to God, asking Him to put us to good use to His glory. As we grow in our relationship with our Redeemer, we develop a desire to live by His standards. The depth of our eternal relationship with Him can often be measured by the way we reflect His standards in our daily activities.
God has good, pleasing, and perfect plans for His children. He wants us to be transformed people with renewed minds, living to honor and obey Him. Because He wants only what is best for us, and because He sacrificed His Son, now living, to make our new life possible, we should joyfully, and gratuitously give ourselves as ‘living sacrifice’ for His service.
Prayer: Abba Father, I want to live my life fully and completely dedicated to You, to serve and obey You in all things. I pray for Your grace to lead me through, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
PRAISE THE LORD!
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