Acceptable love

Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Oh the riches of the mercy of God! All the mercies we enjoy are from, through, and to the glory of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. They are all undeserved because “God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.” How should those who stand in grace before God, dressed in the righteousness of Jesus, by His mercies live? In this verse, Paul urged each of them to present his or her body as a sacrificial offering of worship to God. First we should not miss that the offering we have to give is a living one. The readers were quite familiar with sacrifices made to gods, they were all dead when they were offered. Our God is not interested in dead offerings in the flesh. As Paul wrote earlier, our mortal bodies which are dead (8:10) have the Spirit of life in Christ dwelling within (8:2). Our spirits are alive because of righteousness (8:10). The Spirit of life in Christ is none other than the Holy Spirit, by which we live, so the life animating our spirits which controls our service in this world makes the sacrifice living and holy. Therefore the deeds which flow from the life of Christ in us are spiritual. When what we do is united with Jesus, it is living, holy love. According to Paul, His love flowing through us is the only offering that God accepts. Living to love with Jesus is the only offering God accepts. I hope you can see how this encourages us in how we love. God is not interested in acts of love offered in our own strength. Those acts all fall short of the glory of God, for God only gets glory if He does the work. As Paul wrote to the Colossians, “For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (2:13). What makes our love acceptable? As we live to love with Jesus in our bodies, we do so by the mercies of God. I urge you each morning to give the Holy Spirit, the presence and power of Christ in your body, give Him access to all that you are as an instrument of His love to whoever He puts in your path today. Know that such an offering is holy, accepted by God, and will bring glory to Him on that “great Day of the Lord.” Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com