Our world has us trained to think God’s will is only and always for our happiness. But discerning God’s will is contingent on our willingness to lay down our lives, rights, and pursuits and replace them with Jesus. Only then will God’s will become clear.
Observations & Conclusions:
- Dedication to God is propelled by God’s mercy
– We come undeservingly - Dedication to God requires the full surrender of our bodies
– We come to die - True dedication to God will result in metamorphosis
– We come and are made alive - Dedication to God requires the renewal of our minds
– We come under new management - Dedication to God will result in a discernment of His will
– We come and learn to recognize God’s new marching orders
Application: On what grounds could someone accuse you of being a Christian?
God’s will for my life is…
Body & Mind
Prescription: Return to the foot of the cross and the source of mercy
Ephesians 2:12
“Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.”
Mark 8:34-35
“Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.”
Galatians 2:20
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
2 Corinthians 5:17
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new has come!”
Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand, the shadow of a mighty Rock within a weary land; a home within the wilderness, a rest upon the way, from the burning of the noontide heat and the burden of the day.
Upon the cross of Jesus mine eye at times can see the very dying form of One who suffered there for me: and from my stricken heart with tears two wonders I confess, the wonders of redeeming love and my unworthiness.
I take, O cross, thy shadow for my abiding place: I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of his face; content to let the world go by, to know no gain nor loss; my sinful self my only shame, my glory all the cross.