The Bible and Life: The Gateway

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

THE GATEWAY.

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In Romans 12:1 Paul brings us face-to-face with this gateway: 'Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing

to God—which is your spiritual worship."

In the preceding eleven chapters of Romans, Paul has expounded on the boundless mercy of God toward the human race and the full provision He has made for all men, Jew or Gentile, through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. Now he comes to the response God requires from each of us. It is simple and down-to-earth: Offer your body to God as a living sacrifice. It is a sacrifice that God requires of us for His plan to work.

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But why does Paul emphasize that it is to be a living sacrifice?

Because he is contrasting it with the sacrifices of the Old Testament, which were first slain and then placed dead on the altar. In the New Testament God requires each believer to offer his or her body just as totally on His altar—but it is to be a living body, one that is active and dedicated in His service. There is no difference in the totality of the sacrifice. In the New Testament as in the Old, God requires complete, unreserved surrender.

To offer your body to God in this way means that you no longer claim ownership or control of it. You no longer decide where it is to go, what it is to eat or wear, or what kind of service it is to perform. All that is now decided by the One to whom you have yielded complete and final control. Since He is your Creator, He knows better than you do what He can accomplish in and through that yielded body of yours.

The first result of this surrender is that it makes your body holy. In Matthew 23:19 Jesus reminds the Pharisees that it is the altar that sanctifies—or makes holy—the sacrifice placed on it, and not the other way around. This applies to your body when it is placed on God's altar. By this act it is sanctified, made holy, set apart to God.

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In Romans 12:2 Paul goes on to describe the second result of offering your body upon God's altar: "Do not conform any longer 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."

In response to your surrender, God will do for you what you cannot achieve by any effort of your own will: He will renew your mind. He will change the way you think. This includes your goals, your values, your attitudes, and your priorities. All will be brought into line with those of God Himself.

This inner change will find expression in your outward behavior. You will no longer be "conformed," acting like the unregenerate people all around you. Instead, you will be

"transformed," and begin to demonstrate in your conduct the very nature and character of God.

Until you begin to experience this renewal of your mind, there are many wonderful things God has planned for you that you cannot discover. In Romans 8:7 Paul calls the old,

unrenewed mind "the carnal mind," which is "enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be" (KJV).

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God will not reveal His secrets or open up His treasures to a mind at enmity with Him. But when your mind is renewed, you will begin to discover all that God has planned for your life.

This unfolding of God's plan to your renewed mind will be progressive. Paul uses three words for it: good, pleasing, perfect.

Your first discovery will be that God's plan for you is always good. God never plans anything bad or harmful for any of His children. In making this discovery, you will probably have to reject the devil's lies. He will be very insistent in suggesting that full surrender to God will cost you everything that is interesting and exciting in life. He will whisper negative insinuations to your mind: "You'll have to give up everything you enjoy.... You'll be no better than a slave.... That kind of life leaves no room for fun.... You'll lose all your friends.... Your personality will never develop...." and so on.

In fact, the opposite is true. Not merely is God's plan good; it is also pleasing. Full surrender to God is the gateway into a life filled with challenges and pleasures that cannot be experienced in any other way. Over the years I have met many Christians who made this kind of surrender. I have never yet met one who regretted it.

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I know other Christians, on the other hand, who were challenged to make this surrender and refused. Almost without exception, they ended up frustrated and unfulfilled. As you continue to progress in your discovery of God's plan, you will go beyond the good and the pleasing to the perfect. Fully embraced, God's plan is perfect. Complete. There are no omissions. It covers every area of your life, meets every need, satisfies every longing.

If marriage is part of God's plan for you, then you can trust Him to work out every detail, both for you and for the mate He has destined for you. He will bring you together with a person who is so exactly suited to you that, together, you may experience marriage as God originally designed it. This will be on a level higher than the world has ever dreamed of.

Perhaps you have never made this kind of total surrender to God. You have never "offered your body to God as a living sacrifice." Perhaps you never knew God required this of you. But now you find yourself standing before this gateway—the gateway of full surrender. You long to explore all that lies on the other side, yet you are afraid. Already you begin to hear in your mind the whispered insinuations of the devil.

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Let me say that I understand your feelings. More than forty years ago, I stood before the same gateway. I experienced the same inner tensions—the longing to explore all that lay on the other side; the fear of what it might cost me. My mind was flooded with questions: What will my friends say? And my family? What will happen to my university career? Finally I made the decision. I committed my whole life to God.

Never once since then have I regretted that decision or been tempted to revoke it. It opened the way into a fife that has proved richer, fuller, more exciting than I had ever dreamed possible. Included in it was a mate prepared by God in each of two successive marriages. One thing I can say with full assurance: God's plan works!

I cannot force you through this gateway. Not even God can do that. But I can show you how to enter. All that is needed is a decision, followed by a simple prayer. If you are ready to make the decision, here is a prayer you may offer:

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Lord Jesus Christ, I thank You that on the cross You gave Yourself as a sacrifice for my sins, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life. In my turn, I now give myself to You. I offer my body as a living sacrifice on Your altar. From now on, I belong wholly to You. Make me what You want me to be; lead me where You want me to go. Open up Your plan for my life.

Now seal your decision by thanking the Lord. Thank Him that He has heard you and received you. Thank Him that your whole life now belongs to Him. You are His responsibility. He

will open up every door of His will for you. He will fulfill every plan and purpose He has for your life.

- Derek Prince (GOD IS A MATCHMAKER)