Living Sacrifice, Part 3

13 Aug

Susan Merritt, PhD Christian Living, Weekly Devotional 0

The living sacrifice described in Romans 12:1-5 involves our personal commitment to habitual and continuous worship of God demonstrated by the way we think and live. Each verse presents a different aspect of our daily lives permeated by God: Personal Holiness, Personal Purity, Personal Humility, Personal Collaborative Approach, and Personal Perspective of Unity in Christ. Today we will look at verse three.

3. Personal Humility – “For I say to every man that is among you, through the grace given unto me, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.”

Psalm 21:2 says, “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD ponders the hearts.” It is true that we are blinded to our own shortcomings because all we can truly know of the hearts of others is by how they behave and speak. We cannot see what others are thinking. Only God knows that. But we do know where our own behavior and speech comes from and we choose too often to ignore the basis of selfishness and pride that is behind so much of how we act and what we say. Because of pride, we tend to rationalize and excuse much of what we do and say to the hurt of others.

Ephesians 4:1-2 admonishes us to “…walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love.” The nature of our relationship with God and with other Christians requires the humility of Romans 12:3 because we are metaphorically connected to them and function in the same way as a physical body (Eph. 5:30), working together as the bearer of God’s message on earth. In human terms, we tend towards considering ourselves more highly than we ought, which leads to the malfunctioning of the body described in 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 using humorous word pictures:

“For as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so is also Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles or whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, ‘Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body,’ is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, ‘Because I am not the eye I am not of the body,’ is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

But now God has set the members every one of them in the body, as it has pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ Nay, much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble, are necessary. And those members of the body, which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need. God has tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked that there should be no schism in the body and that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.”

As you can see, the object of personal humility is closely tied to the health of the Body of Christ, the Church. The preceding passage, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, explains the operational arrangement of the Church in terms of gifts of the Holy Spirit. The discontent with less attractive work within the Body has to do with pride-generated envy of God-given tasks in other Christians. How do we avoid lack of humility and the resultant disruption?

Our primary focus needs to be on our own personal relationship with God. First, immerse yourself with the eternal values of God. Start with worship and maintain an intentional routine of prayer, Bible study, and obedience to God’s direction for yourself. Psalm 100:1-5 gives us a good template to prepare our souls for time with God:

“Make a joyful noise unto the LORD all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness. Come before His presence with singing. Know that the LORD, He is God. It is He that has made us and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him and bless His name. For the LORD is good. His mercy is everlasting and His truth endures to all generations.”

Second, actively denounce any attitude that arises with regard to the relationship others have with God (including “Judge not that you be not judged.” Matt. 7:1) and the gifts of the Holy Spirit in them. You are responsible for what God has given you to do, just as others are responsible for what God has given them to do. There is no place for envy in the life of the Christian.

Verses four and five of Romans 12 have to do with our interactions with others, in collaboration and unity. They follow the instruction in verse three to practice humility for good reason. Next week, we will take a look at verse four.