Your Reasonable Service

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a LIVING SACRIFICE, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Romans 12:1

On the surface, being a believer of God appears easy to do, in as much as a Christian is basically a person that trusts and believes in Jesus Christ. No one is more worthy of our trust; the one who is fully able to bring us into the Kingdom of God. But this is a mere surface observation. The truth is that being a follower of God can be very difficult because the true Christian is one who, because he trusts Christ, must set his heel upon human nature within him and subject the appetites of his flesh and the desires of his mind to the aim of pleasing God.  

"No wishy-washy, irresolute, vacillating, lukewarm, disorderly and unrestrained Christian believer will please or glorify our Heavenly Father."

Sacrifice requires the surrender of our life and thus control of it. What impressions we allow to be made upon our senses, the indulgences we grant our appetites, the satisfactions we seek for our needs, and the activities we engage in through this fearfully and wonderfully made instrument must now be controlled according to God's standards.  Apostle Paul writes, 

For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; Galatians 6:8 

as well as, 

"I discipline my body and bring it into subjection"   1 Corinthians 9:27

When viewed carnally, self-control—especially when linked with self-denial and self-sacrifice—seems to be essentially negative. However, when confronted with a true understanding of what human nature produces, we can see that the fruit of self-control is entirely positive.

The Apostle Paul strongly exhorts us to self-control:  

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.  1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Apostle Paul uses runners in the Grecian games as examples of how we are to live as believers of God. The first thing to notice is the utmost tension, energy and strenuous effort pictured by athletes straining for the finish line in hope of the glory of winning. "This is the way to run," says Apostle Paul, "if we want to attain our potential."  This requires steady, intense concentration, of focus, by the runners. They cannot afford to become distracted by things off to the side of their course. If they do, their effectiveness in running will surely diminish. 

Keeping focused requires control—not allowing distractions to 

interfere with the responsibility at hand. 

Jesus says:  

"Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness"   Matthew 6:33

Here, the issue is single-mindedness. James writes, 

"He who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. . . .

He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways"    James 1:6, 8

Controlling our focus can go a long way toward making the run successful.  Apostle Paul then says the victorious runner gives Christians an example of rigid self-control: 

And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.   1 Corinthians 9:25

He goes on to say that the world is tempered or restrained when it comes to their personal goals but the believer looks beyond the temporal reward because we are striving for the eternal reward.

It is not only a matter of concentrating while we are racing, but in all areas of life because our whole life impacts on the race. The runner religiously follows a rigorous program within a rigid schedule each day: He rises at a certain hour, eats a breakfast of certain foods, fills his morning with exercises and works on his technique. After a planned lunch, he continues training, eats a third planned meal and goes to bed at a specified hour. Throughout, he not only avoids sensuous indulgences, he must also abstain from many perfectly legitimate things that simply do not fit into his program of winning the race. An athlete who is serious about excelling in his chosen sport must live this way, or he will not succeed except against inferior competitors. He will suffer defeat by those who do follow them.

We can learn a great deal here about self-indulgence and self-control. It is not enough for us to say, "I draw the line there, at this or that vice, and I will have nothing to do with these." We will have a very difficult time growing under such an approach, as Apostle Paul relates:  

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.   Hebrews 12:1

Many things that are not sinful are "weights" simply because they are so time and mind-consuming. Because we do not want to fail in accomplishing the highest purposes for which we were called, we must run light to endure the length of our course successfully.

Jesus says: 

Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it"    Matthew 7:14

Apostle Paul writes: 

"You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier" 2 Timothy 2:3-4

The believer is exhorted to control himself and run to win.  In 1 Corinthians 9, Apostle Paul illustrates self-control in its positive aspects by showing what it produces along the way and—most importantly—in the end. Jesus makes it clear in Revelation 2 and 3 that the overcomers (conquerors, victors) will go into the Kingdom of God.

Self-control plays a major role in bringing victory through our trusting relationship with Jesus Christ. A noted commentator, wrote, "There are few things more lacking in the average Christian life of today than resolute, conscious concentration upon an aim which is clearly and always before us."

Self-control is not the only factor we need to do this, but it is a very necessary one. Its fruit, good beyond measure, is worth every effort and sacrifice we must make.

Apostle Paul comes at this issue from a somewhat different angle, one that comes into play in the individual choices we make during the course of a day:  

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. 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.  Romans 12:1-2

By this, Apostle Paul demonstrates that a believer's living is inseparably bound to belief in God's truth. Faith without works is dead, and works without the correct belief system is vanity. 

Wrong thinking cannot lead to right doing.   

Thus, outwardly and inwardly we will be on our way toward God's will; evidenced from the inside out.  All the virtues produced from this change will begin to grow and manifest themselves in our life.

(Biblical Studies)

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