Rom 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Some may interpret this passage as reason to view their personal opinions of tattoos and piercing and theres nothing wrong with that, some may interpret this passage as a reason of being physically active and while that is very valid I dont think its the point that Paul is trying to get across. Lets look at the word sacrifice, the oxford dictionary says that it giving up of a valued thing for the sake of something, loss entailed. Doesn't that change and turn around our interpretations 360 degrees. You may ask well what is Paul asking us to give up and he goes on to say it in the next passage of scripture
Rom 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Paul is asking us to give up on the worlds way of doing things and taking up Gods way, another word for this is repent which means in simple terms "turn away from the world completely and say that Jesus is Lord of all"
Paul then goes on to discuss gifts and talent and illustrates this in the following scriptures.
Rom 12:6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;
Rom 12:7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching;
Rom 12:8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
When we were born God gave us talents and gifts for the purpose of us to use, but when we hand over our lives to God thats when they really mean something special as God suddenly begins to use them to enlarge his kingdom. You may ask can a non-christian live a life completely helping people with generosity, service etc. and I say of course but it means nothing until a person comes into a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Rom 12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
Rom 12:13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
Rom 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
Rom 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
Yes we may face tough times but if we carry the above characteristics, think of how incredible and easier things will be for us, especially when we face trauma in our lives that could easily turn our world upside down and I love what is says further down.
Rom 12:17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.
Rom 12:19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."
Rom 12:20 To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head."
Rom 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
While there may be people out there who has hurt us or our family members, the key word on how to respond is love, yes Love. We have a built in instinct amongst our flesh to want to make people feel the hurt that they poured on us, it took a long time for me to really come to forgiveness over the person who robbed me of knowing my uncle who was by the way murdered by a disgruntled employee before I was born. I know that the person who murdered my uncle is as much a child of God as I am, we should not overlook that last part. Corrie Ten Boom is amazing example, her family was very generous in helpng save the persecuted jews during the time of the holocaust and refusing to let the nazi hurt those people that the family was saving, the nazis sent Corrie Ten Boom to a concentration camp where she was tortured beyond belief and years later when Corrie Ten Boom was talking at a church she saw a man approach hee and recognised him as the main commando who inflicted that pain on her and to her amazement that commando became born again and began to ask for Corrie's forgiveness to which she gracefully and mercifully forgave this commando. We are to learn from Corrie Ten Boom and next time instead of responding with revenge, respond with love.
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