Romans 1:16-17
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
Now that we have taken a closer look at the Gospel, what salvation is, and how the righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel, what do we do with it? How does should we actively live out the Gospel in our daily lives?
I believe Paul answers this question for us in Romans 12:1-2:
1 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. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
There is so much in this text, that to cover it totally would take another series of posts, and I might do that later, but for now, let’s look at the basics.
Paul says that “by the mercies of God”, and some translations say “in light of all that God has done for you”, we are to actively strive to live lives to sacrifice that are acceptable to God. We are to strive to be live differently than those around us, to display a life of hope in Christ, and to renew our minds. The renewing of our minds does take place through prayer and reading the Bible, but it also takes place by participating in anything that stirs your affections for Christ. We are to actively do what is necessary to make Christ be the uppermost in our affections. We are to strive to become more like Him every day. We are to love the world around us with the sacrificial leadership and understanding that God showed us. We are also to remember that we didn’t do anything to deserve salvation, and we didn’t do anything to receive it. This should humble us in relation to God, as well as the world and fellow Christians.
Paul then says that this is our “reasonable service”, other translations say “spiritual act of worship”. Really, both translations make sense, and are accurate. Living our daily lives with a passion for the Gospel and striving to bring God glory, or to point towards the glory that God has (because we don’t add to or take away from His glory based on how we live life), makes logical sense in light of what God has done for us, and is worship to God. We are to live lives of worship to God, constantly remembering what He did for us, and what we should be doing in light of His grace.
