Motivated by Mercy
Scripture: Romans 12:1 | Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship.
Having the grandchildren in our home for the week has brought back all kinds long forgotten memories of child rearing. You would think raising three children who were full of life and as individual as three people could possibly be, that a parent would never forget the challenges of parenting. It’s amazing what you choose to remember and what you choose to forget. I had forgotten the sacrifice and self-denial that goes along with parenting. The countless times when life was not about me are now a faint memory. Those time consuming, energy draining and mind boggling helpless little people took all that I had to offer and then some. Parenting is not for the weak, the self-centered or the egotistical. Parenting is for the sacrificial servant who is willing to give his all for a cause greater than himself. The single motivating factor that drives every parent to do what they do for another is love, dedication and devotion.
What is the one thing that should motivate us “to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God” as our spiritual act of worship? What is the one thing that can motivate us to no longer conform “to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind?” Why should we “test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will?” The answer to our question in found in one single and simple phrase of our verse for today. God through inspiration of the Spirit informs us that we should take into consideration and always have in our view, the rich and unending “mercies of God. The word for Mercy in the original language is plural and is intended to remind us of the many great mercies of God toward us. These mercies are a reflection of God’s compassion or forgiveness shown toward those who trust Christ as their Savior when it was completely within His right and power to punish and condemn us for our sin. For those of us in Christ, God’s mercy is in complete harmony with the demands of the His law and righteousness because of the atoning sacrificial death of Christ on the cross.
With a stroke of the pin Paul is reminding his target audience all that God has provided in the first eleven chapters is a direct result of God’s mercies. Tucked away in those life transformational truths recorded the first eleven chapters we discover God’s mercies reflected through forgiveness of sin, freedom from sin’s dominion and condemnation, deliverance from the law, victory over death and sin, reconciliation and redemption and so much more. The mercies of God displayed in our salvation should be more than enough to motivate any saved by grace through faith believer in Christ to dedicate himself or herself wholeheartedly to God.
What motivates a disciple of Christ to sacrificially serve God wholeheartedly? Discipleship is not for the weak, the self-centered or the egotistical. Discipleship is for the sacrificial servant who is willing to give his all for a cause greater than himself. The single motivating factor that ought to drive every disciple is God’s love, dedication and devotion revealed through His tender mercies. How could those of us who have received so much from God offer any less than our total and complete selves to Him? Weigh in what you have already received through faith and trust in Christ and you do the math.
LIFE APP:
- God is a merciful God
- God has revealed His mercy toward us through Christ
- God’s mercies should motivate our sacrificial service to Him
PRAY:
- I thank you for being such a merciful God
- Open my eyes/heart and help me know your mercies
- Forgive me for taking advantage of your tender mercies
- Lord, help me be an instrument of YOUR mercy to others
