Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.     Romans 12:1-2 HCSB

We are to humbly submit ourselves to the Lord, our attitude is important as we worship the Lord. We never want our sacrifices to God to be in vain or be rejected. So, we should know He considers our attitude in all we do.

In our Scripture passage today, Paul encourages us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. When you think about this, we are to give God our all. Our whole body should serve the Lord. This means how we act, how we speak and how we live our lives should reflect our love for Christ. It should reflect our willingness to sacrifice to be in close relationship with Him.

When we surrender our body and soul to Jesus Christ, we live in a way that is holy or set apart. We live in a way that pleases God. This is how we worship Him. We surrender our bodies by refraining from things that are harmful to them. We refrain from sexual immorality. We try to keep healthy so we can serve Him by helping others.

And in verse 2, Paul tells us not to be conformed to this age or the world. This goes hand in hand with us being holy or being set apart for God. This means we look different than everyone else in the world. This means our love for Christ is evident in the way we act, talk and treat others.

Paul goes on to say we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. When we accept Christ, we become new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). It means our minds are renewed. It means that we don’t rely on our own understanding, but we trust in God with all our hearts (Proverbs 3:5-6). It means we trust in God to give us wisdom and discernment (James 1:5).

When our minds are renewed God helps us to discern what is good, pleasing and the perfect will of God.

If we worship God with the wrong attitude or for the wrong reasons, we are wasting our time. God doesn’t want you giving your tithe out of obligation. He doesn’t want you serving because you feel obligated to do so. He wants you to give of your time and money from your heart because you love Him with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.

He doesn’t want you to show up to church on Sunday out of obligation because it pleases your parents or your spouse or whoever. He wants you to be there because you want to worship Him. He wants you to actually want to be in His house in order to praise and worship Him. We are told in Hebrews 10:25 not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting or encouraging one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. This is referring to the Day of Judgment.

If you have the attitude that you are doing God a favor when you drop a little tithe or offering into the plate, you bother to take time out of your busy schedule to give him an hour or two on Sunday, or you serve Him by helping others you might want to change that.

God doesn’t need us, He loves us. He loves us so much that while we were still sinners, He sent His son to die for our sins. He didn’t do this out of an attitude of obligation; He did it out of love. When we do something for Him, it should always be out of love. We should give Him our all, the best of our best because that’s what He gave to us.

Have a great day!