Strength for Today
You are not a blob of protoplasm but a living being, a person made in God’s image. A unique mixture of body, soul and spirit constitute the real you! The Bible says that you were of such great importance to God that He sent His Son to redeem you, forgive your sins and failures, and to bring you into confrontation with His purpose and will for you.
When Paul wrote to the Romans, he said that the key to discovering God’s purpose and plan is not only to use your brain – your mind, as he put it – but to yield your body to Him as a living sacrifice. This is significant – far more so than most people realize – because your thoughts control what you do, and your refusal to think of the consequences of what you do results in tragic consequences. The day following the night when you threw care to the wind, you awaken from your moral stupor and ask, “God, how could I have done the stupid thing I did?”
Paul told Christians at Rome that God’s will is good. You can’t separate the will of the Father from His nature and character. He also said that as we understand it we recognize that it is acceptable – not a bitter pill to be swallowed, but the key to what we always wanted but didn’t know what it was. Finally, he says it is complete or whole – perfect was the word he used.
He said the first step is to make a heart decision to do His will – “doing the will of God from your heart” is how he put it (Ephesians 6:6). The book of Hebrews also promises that it will be rewarded (see Hebrews 10:36). That you can discover for yourself. Now go do the right thing.
Used with permission from Guidelines International Ministries. To learn more about Guidelines and the ministry, send an e-mail to info@guidelines.org. You may also visit www.guidelines.org.