Our Calling

prez-uhnt – a gift

Pre /zent’ to show, introduce or display

…present your body as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Romans 12:1

What is the meaning of this statement ? are we a gift to God when we accept his son, or are we to show off and put ourselves on display as an example ? To get a clear answer lets break it down.

First we present ourself to God as a gift. We commit our life to his service and in so doing we give us to him; that is, we become a living sacrifice. Then, as He changes us from the inside out, we are put on display by him to the unbelievers so that they might see Christ in us.

We were bought with a price. Due to the love that God has for us he demands nothing. When he calls us to service, we respond out of desire, not obligation. Salvation is free, not earned.

You see, Jesus was ridiculed, mocked, laughed at, hated, beaten, tortured, and killed in our place so we wouldn’t have to pay for our sins.

So, when we come to a point in our life that we believe Jesus to be all he says, then we accept him as being our savior through faith. For most of us, it will be some time later before we can accept him as being our lord.

The Word ‘lord’ isn’t always Jesus, Lord simply means ruler.

When we finally accept him as the lord of our lives we can then offer him a present - our body - for his use if we are found to be holy and acceptable to God.

We cannot make ourselves holy. We are made holy by Gods grace. I am holy because Jesus shed his blood and used this shed blood to hide my sin from God by washing them away and making me new again. Therefore,

I am born-again.

I am found to be acceptable to God when I am obedient to his guidance in my life.

If I am not obedient, I can say that I’m not committed and that Jesus is not my Lord because, I refuse to allow him to be my guide in my decisions.

Jesus freely died for us because he was obedient to God. We will grow to freely choose to be obedient like he did.

If God forced us to worship, the worship would be false.

When Jesus freely died for us, He did so because God wanted him to. Our reasonable service is a commitment to him to be faithful. To serve him in life as he prompts us to in his death. Phi. 2:8

Stewardship is responsible decision making.

Our reasonable service to God is to be a good steward. To take and make the most out of everything that he has given us. To protect, care for and manage all possessions, both monetary and intangible.

Good stewardship is the act of proving our faith to God by giving our life to him so that he might live thru us in a way that we are not responsible for those things we do, but that we, in fact, act out of obedience to Him. In short, as weird as it sounds, we choose to be possessed by the Holy Spirit to do his will. Put simply, God died for us so that we could live.

Therefore, It is our reasonable service to choose to be a slave to God so that He can live thru us and reconcile others to him. Rom. 6:22

For we were bought with a price, the blood of Jesus.

We are no longer our own, but we belong to Christ.