Faith is Alive (Romans 12:1-2)

 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—-the kind he will accept.  When you think of what he has done for you, is that too much to ask?  Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a person by changing the way you think. Then you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.

The Apostle Paul here puts the emphasis on self before speaking about the gifting given to each one to minister.

He says, first of all, I plead with you, that means that what he is asking is not supposed to be overlooked.  It's important! It is not obviously the giving of 'living' bodies.  Of course, God wants 'living' bodies and not dead ones.  We know two things from scripture, 

1) God is pleased by our faith: "God gave his approval to people in days of old because of their faith." (Hebrews 11:2)                              Verse 6: "So you see, it is impossible to please God without faith"                                                                                   

2) The blood of Jesus makes the sacrifice acceptable                            ...make his people holy by shedding his own blood (Hebrews 13:12)

We must live by faith since the righteous shall live by faith and we are made holy by the blood of Christ.  I hope you don't think that I am out to start a new denomination by putting such an emphasis on 'faith' but faith is important.  It is an evidence of reality in your life.  It makes you alive.  In fact, a whole chapter in the Bible is written about people who acted by faith.  Those were people who did acts that would have been impossible for them to do on their own.  These were more than just good deeds.

Our bodies have to be sacrifices that are 'living' by faith and 'holy' through the blood of Jesus.  Both faith and holy living are a sacrifice to God as our bodies' initial desire is to sin.  Living by faith is more than a warm feeling, but it presents challenges to our thinking and a renewing of our mind as we live the life.  It means drastic actions and a conscious refusal to imitate the world's behaviors and customs.  It's obviously not just a walk in the park and a proper vocabulary to scare the demons.  It's a transformation that will turn you inside out and into an unrecognizable new person.  The image of Christ.  This is more than the faith movement but the faith practice and it makes faith very practical and out of the ordinary.  It is the kind of faith that makes a boat for the first time and believe there will be 'rain' without really knowing what 'rain' is.  It's the kind of faith that offers a child to God just because he asked for it and without really knowing the outcome.  Trusting God for the impossible,  just because he already promised it.

Faith is the opposite of worry and fear and those two cause us to offer 'horizontal' sacrifices that are worthless and dead focusing all our attention on the world and conforming to it.

It is only by living by faith and having our mind renewed that we will be transformed and know the mind of God and his will for our lives.

Have a great day!

Make sure you read your Bible and find the answers to every situation in your life.  God is near!