Greg Laurie - Thursday, June 28, 2018

A Prerequisite for God's Guidance

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.

—Romans 12:1

One of my favorite verses is Psalm 103:12:

“As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (NKJV).

It’s as though God has taken our sins, has thrown them into the sea of forgetfulness, and then posted a sign that reads, “No fishing allowed.”

We shouldn’t choose to remember what God has chosen to forget. God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for us. And if we will turn from our sins and believe in Him, all of our sin is forgiven and forgotten.

In light of that—in light of the fact that our sin is forgiven and that our citizenship is in Heaven—we should present ourselves to God. The apostle Paul wrote,

“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him” (Romans 12:1 NLT).
It’s the idea of presenting a sacrifice. Generally, when sacrifices were presented to God in the Old Testament, they were dead. They were there to symbolically take the sins of the people upon themselves. Of course, Christ became the ultimate sacrifice at the cross, and we no longer need to do this anymore.

Paul is saying,

“In light of what God has done for you, I urge you—I beg you—to do this.” Why? It’s our reasonable service.

That word reasonable could be translated “logical.” In other words, it’s unreasonable, illogical, not to do this. To give yourself completely to God is the logical thing to do.

To present yourself to God as a living sacrifice is a prerequisite for His guidance.