20 November 2020

It Is Your Reasonable Service

Romans 12:1 (NKJV) 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.

“Reasonable service” means that it is only reasonable, or right, that we do this, as God deserves it from us. Paul is saying "Now that you know how God has called you and has saved you, because of his compassion towards you, your only reasonable or logical response is to serve Him or worship Him by presenting your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God."

Ephesians 4:1 (NIV) “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”

Our reasonable service is imitating Christ.

Philippians 2:1-5 (NIV) “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:”

1 Peter 1:15 (NIV) “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do”

Paul urges us re-embrace that role and responsibility: to reflect life that is the logical, rational, reasonable response to so great a God, who has revealed himself in and through his Son Jesus Christ, and to so great a salvation, in which God has redeemed and restored us.

Ephesians 4:1-4 (AMP) “So I, the prisoner for the Lord, appeal to you to live a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called , 2 with all humility , and gentleness , with patience, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the bond of peace .”