Paul said in Romans 12:
“I beseech ye therefore by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice hoky and acceptable to God which is your reasonable SER-VICE.”
He was simply saying that in light of all the things, which he calls, “mercies”, that God has done for us, (that he talked about in Chap. 1-11)
It reminded me of a personal incident that occurred in my life some years ago.
I had a neighbor who lived a few doors down from me who asked me to do him a favor and I did. He was close to 80 years old and he had a lawn service and he asked me to print him some business cards. He had no idea what went into making business cards and I didn’t tell him. I was glad to do it. I bought the material, got on my computer and in short order I gave him 250 business cards without charge. I actually did it twice.
A year or so later my lawnmower broke and it was taking me time to save the money to get it fixed and my grass was getting taller and taller. He had 3 mowers and I asked to borrow one to cut my grass and he told me that he didn’t usually loan his lawnmowers out to people and I said, oh yeah, that’s alright and I turned and walked away. Then he wanted to back-track and come over and cut it and I said, no thank you. I did tell him that the next time he needed business cards to go printer pay them to do it for him. Although I had done my service to him free of charge I felt that in light of what I had done for him, he ought to be willing to do some for me but it wasn’t to be.
The gist of what Paul is saying in Romans 12:1 is in light of all the good things God has done for us, we ought to do something for Him.
It’s called, “gratitude”. A thankful heart is a happy heart. God wants us to service Him out of a spirit of gratitude.
My wife and I just visited some very, very, dear people and I could just sense the gratitude eminating from them and it seems that the more thankful they are the more blessed they are.
Just a thought from the sermon.
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