Romans 12:1 tells us that we are to present ourselves as a living sacrifice unto God. This statement may seem confusing to some, while odd to others. Today, we are going to take a look at what that, and the following verses mean in regards to our lives.

To be a living sacrifice that is “Holy, acceptable to God”, we need to live our lives as service to God. It means that we need to stop sinning, and do things that bring glory to God, or that help others come closer to Him. It means that our primary focus in our life is doing things that glorify God. Now, that doesn’t mean that we ignore our families or that we quit our jobs. On the contrary, we are told numerous times in the Bible to good work for our employers and to care for our families. We should do our jobs and care for our families in a God-glorifying way.

The next verse, Romans 12:2, tells us that we shouldn’t be conformed to the world but rather transformed by the renewing of our minds. Being conformed to the world is when our perception is limited to the world’s perception, and that we are stuck doing only what the world does. The transformation and renewing of our mind helps us to see and do what is good and acceptable. This verse is not saying that we can’t have anything to do with the world. Nor is it saying that we can’t use the world’s methods in church. Rather, it is saying that we can’t be limited to the world, and that we can’t use parts of the world that is sinful.

We need to live our lives in such a way that we are a sacrifice to God. We need to be Holy, not stuck in the world’s way of life, but above it, doing what is right and acceptable in God’s eyes.

Most of us have a pastor of some sort; someone who leads our local church. The Bible has many instructions for how we are supposed to treat them. In this devotional, we’ll be looking at what Hebrews has to say.

Hebrews 13:17 says that we are to obey them, and submit to them. It says that they watch our souls, meaning that they look out for our spiritual well-being. We are to listen to them, and their counsel in spiritual matters. It does say elsewhere in the Bible if what they teach is contrary to the Bible, we are not to obey, so we are not supposed to obey them blindly.

The verse goes on to say that they have to give an account to God about how the people under them turned out. They are partly responsible for how we turn out. According to the verse, we should obey them so that they may give a joyful account, and not an account given in grief. Being a pastor is a very stressful job, we shouldn’t be making it harder for them.

Hebrews  13:18 essentially finishes verse 17. We are told to pray for them. A pastor’s position places a lot of responsibilities on his shoulders, and prayer helps them. What I find interesting about this verse is the change in voice. 17 says to obey them in authority, while 18 says to pray for US. Paul, the writer of Hebrews, was asking for prayer directly for himself. He did not ask for obedience, though it was implied, rather he asked directly for prayer. I think that that makes it clear how important it is to pray for our pastors.

So in closing, obey those in spiritual authority over us (and those in normal authority over us), and pray for them all.

God gave each of us a specific purpose as Christians. We’re not all supposed to be preachers, or all of us teachers. We each have a specific task we are to perform.

Paul teaches this in Romans 12:3-8. He teaches that God has given us different amounts of grace, and according to that grace, different gifts. He lists prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhorting, ruling, and showing mercy as gifts and tasks Christians have.

We are supposed to use our gifts as a unity. Elsewhere in the Bible, Paul uses the illustration of a body. We each have a specific task to perform, and if we don’t all do our task, the whole body suffers. We can’t all be rulers or all pastors, because then we wouldn’t have people who do ministry or exhort people.

Not only are we supposed to do our task, we are also supposed to not think ourselves better than other Christians because of our task or gift. We should think ourselves the same as everyone else. As soon as we start thinking we’re more important, or better than everyone else, it’s far easier for us to fall. Plus, nobody likes someone who’s prideful or arrogant, it just causes more disunity rather than unity.

We each have a gift and a task, if we all do our tasks and use our gifts, and work as a united body, we will be able to better accomplish God’s will. But, if there is no unity, the body of the church will start to fall apart.