A Living Sacrifice!!!

This morning I was listening to Relient k's album MMHMM and seriously enjoying the lyrical geniusness of Matt Theissen.

Any ways that was totally unrelated.  I figure that I should probably explain the meaning behind my blog title and the verse.  You may have recognized the verse Romans 12:1-2 and the title being the whole point of the verse.

Ever seince I had to memorize and learn the verse for Awana during my high school years it has become a favorite, if not my favorite verse!  Just in case you do not know the verse, here you go: "¹ Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

The meaning I gather behind the verse is this.  The Apostle Paul, the author of Romans, is obviously talking to fellow believer, assuming that they are all followers of Christ.  He is telling us to be set-apart from the rest of this world and the people around us who may not know or follow after Christ.  They should be able to see and know clearly that there is something different about us as Believers!  They that we are believers by the way we act, the things we say, the things we do, the places we go, the thoughts we think and even the way we dress.  The examples can easily go on!  But we are to be transformed, to be changed because of Christ indwelling in us through the Holy Spirit.  Accepting Christ is not a ticket to heaven, it is a lifestyle we are to embrace.  Our minds should be renewed because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit

So that is what I get and understand from the verse Romans 12:1-2.  My prayer is that I apply it to my life and I hope that someone reading this can apply it to theirs as well.  Don't think that a Christian cannot listen or read or watch things of this world but we are called by Christ to be set-apart, so think about what you are watching, listening to, or reading.  Think about your life that only you live.  How do people think about you?  If they don't know me and I asked them about you, would they say that you are a follower of Christ?  If you do not know me, could I tell that you are a follower of Christ by they way you dress or a first impression?

That is what I believe should be our calling!!!  Do I follow it 24/7?  Psh... NO not at all.  I struggle cause I am human.  But I urge you to think about this!!!  Just as I will also think and act on!!!