Gratitude towards God is the oil that lubricates the gears of my heart. If gratitude is running low in my heart, then my heart begins to pine for the peace of God and I feel empty. Sincere gratitude because of God's mercies (the forgiveness of sins and eternal life) towards me motivates my heart to please the heart of The Lord Jesus Christ. We serve the Lord out of love and appreciation, not to help save our souls from the wrath to come.
Wisely invest your life daily to Christ Jesus Himself and His things (the dreaded, unseen daily chores of life) before it is Too Late. Never try to serve God out of obligation or fear or guilt, but out of pure gratitude. This is called the Crisis of Consecration. Be a daily Sacrifice of praise and glory to God for Jesus' sake. In the mundane, routine requirements of life, we are to give our bodies to God as acceptable sacrifices.
Our life should be a daily offering to the glory of God. Because of the mercies of God we have received through Christ, Offer freely your body to God; make a bold ongoing daily and decisive gift of yourself to God: this is authentic Christianity in the present for God and men to see through your bodily activity. Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men. With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men. I beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.
We must learn about Christ and live like Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ continues His work here on Earth each day through our bodies. We must commit our bodies to Christ, just as a bride and groom commit their bodies to each other. Christ Jesus committed His body to us on the Cross, so we must commit our body to Him day by day. Be transformed daily by the Holy Spirit, not conformed by the spirit of this world.
The wisest, most reasonable, most honorable thing you will ever do is present your body as a living sacrifice daily to your Creator and Savior. The highest wisdom is to depart from evil and please the heart of God. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. What do you boast and brag about with your friends?
Freely yield to the Holy Spirit and be led by Him. Full passionate surrender to the LORD leads to full satisfaction. We must decide Daily to behave what we believe. We are constrained by the love of Christ. Purity of life in secret and acceptable to God is an acceptable sacrifice. Let thy garments be always white; Avoid the mud puddles of sin and oil stains of self in your daily walk and keep your feet clean for God's glory. How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of Peace. Act like what you are in the sight of God and men. We must give our bodies, not just our heart, our life, our money. We should behave daily for the glory of God. Whatever your hands find to do, do all to the glory of God at home, school, workplace, or church as an act of worship.
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. And Jesus said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
But I keep my body under, and bring it into subjection. That ye put off the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or coveteousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient; but rather giving of thanks.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. I die daily. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. It is a faithful saying, For if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him.
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead. From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.
Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all. According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because for the work of Christ Epaphroditus was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me. But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God.
For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator. For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.
Present your body daily to God and everything your body contains (heart, soul, mind, thoughts, will, plans, circumstances, words, talents, health, emotions, faculties, eyes, ears, intellect, sufferings, tongue, affections, love, sickness, deeds, disappointments, hands, desires, feet) as a living sacrifice to God. If God has your body, He has all of you. What I believe should show up in my daily behavior. Authentic Christian conduct comes from being a daily sacrifice, not just church membership or attendance on a certain day at a certain place. Worship is for the entire week for a Christian, not just a few hours on Sunday. Every day is a day of worship when our bodies are yielded to God; 24/7 Christianity is what is expected.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. That we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness.
