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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. 2 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.
3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly
than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
4For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, 5so
we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 6We have gifts
that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7ministry, in ministering;
the teacher, in teaching; 8the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence;
the compassionate, in cheerfulness
Romans 12: 1-8
I once had a pastor say that the trouble with being a living sacrifice, is that we are always crawling down off the alter.
I know that is where I am. I will do good for a while and then "crawl down off the alter" to chase after something of
the world's.
Not exactly being transformed is it. Nope, I'd call that being conformed to the world.
This brings up the question "How does one get transformed?" Paul tells us that we do this by renewing our
minds. Bible Study, Prayer, Worship and Praise are a few of the ways we can renew our minds. We do this so we
are able to discern (I guess that means figure out) the 'good, pleasing and perfect will of God.'
As one of my favorite pastors, Jake Armstrong, would say "Don't be so heavenly minded that your no earthly good."
Paul says 'Don't think more highly of yourself than you should." Be sensible. Here he compares the Church to the
human body. Not all parts of the body have the same function. Yet each part is important to the overall
health of a person. The same goes for the body of Christ. We do not all have the same job (gifts),
but each job is important to the overall health of the church. Much like the body, believers must recognize that
they are interdependent, needing to give to and receive from one another.
The list of gifts in this passage is not meant to be an exahustive or absolute list. Paul concludes this brief
discussion of gifts with emphesis on the fact that whatever gift one has, it should be exercised with enthusiasm for the good
of others.
THINK ABOUT IT:
How many spiritual gifts do you think a person should expect to have?
Do you feel more 'conformed' or 'transformed'? What is the difference?
What is the difference between a natural talent and a spiritual gift? How can you tell whether a gift is natural
or spiritual?
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