Thursday, March 27 ~ Discerning the Will of God

~~Romans 12:1-2
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, 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 renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.

~~The will of God and discerning it. Pretty big subject for a quick devotion. Many spend lifetimes trying to figure out God’s will, but in the context of our scripture we get a glimpse of something God’s word has laid out for us.
I personally believe God’s ultimate will in our lives is for us to come to a saving knowledge and faith in Jesus and to place our trust and faith in him and surrender our lives to him in service and relationship. Through this faith in Christ I believe is where this scripture picks up.
Once we come to Christ and place our faith in him through confession and repentance we lay our old selves aside, the old has passed away and the new, through God’s grace, is salvation. Our scripture says not to be conformed by this world we are in today, but doesn’t it often try to mold our minds and hearts into what it thinks the culture should value? We are to be transformed. To repent is to turn around and go in an opposite direction not only in physical matters, but setting our minds toward Christ.
We are all sinners whether we like the word or not and only Christ who came who lived sinless, died, and rose again can offer us this newness of mind, heart, and soul. Only Christ is the great Physician who sees our heart and knows we must exchange our hearts for his. We them come to living by faith through Christ and offer ourselves daily to God, “living sacrifices” through obedience laying aside our own desires and follow him, allowing him to live through us.
May we never let pride step in our way by always remembering God’s grace. We did not deserve it, and there are consequences to rejecting it. However, through God’s spirit may we allow him to be in the driver’s seat and offer ourselves to his will by discerning his word and Christ to live through us by submitting to him. We must never come to the cross of Christ and remain the same for we have been given new life, new liberty, an eternal hope!!
Remember Christ did not come to make bad people better but to make dead people live. Living for him does not worry about what’s popular, what the media says is acceptable. The church or body of believers cannot conform to man’s desires of what we think is right. Christ paid too high a price for us not to offer our lives for him, allowing him to do what only he can, make all things new. May his will be done.
Travis Cook