Make a Difference
Lent is the season when we focus on improving ourselves to be ready for Easter. We say we want to be better. But that’s the problem, we want to be better. We don’t want to become better. We don’t want to have to work for it.
We spend billions of dollars every year on products and gizmos that we think will improve our lives or make us better, but the results just don’t last. Is there anything out there that can give us a guaranteed permanent change? There is, but you’ve got to go back to the owner’s manual to find it. You’ve got to go back to the Bible,
The definitive text in Scripture on how to change is in the book of Romans. In the first twelve verses of chapter 12 we’re given the principles for lasting change. But let’s focus on the first principle in verse 1. That principle is this: I need to commit my body to God.
Romans 12:1 says: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.” Notice it doesn’t say, offer your heart to Jesus. It doesn’t say, offer your spirit to Jesus. It says offer your body. Why? Because as long as we’re on this planet, everything we do for God, or with God, or in God, we have to do in our bodies.
So, Romans 12:1 says, “offer your body.” Now to “offer” means it’s voluntary. Nobody can force you to offer your body. But there’s more. This verse tells us to offer our body as a living sacrifice to God. The problem with a living sacrifice is that it can choose to crawl off the altar. We do this all the time. We offer ourselves as a living sacrifice on Sunday and then we crawl off the altar on Monday morning. We come to church, and we sing “Onward Christian Soldiers” and on Monday we go AWOL. We need to offer ourselves and stick to it.
So, how do we offer our bodies to God? Keeping them healthy would be a good way to start. Now I’m not just talking about giving up that extra piece of cake during Lent, although that can be part of it. We can offer our bodies to God by controlling them and our choices.
1 Thessalonians 4:4 says this, “Each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable.” And 1 Corinthians 9:27 says, “I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should.” God is sending us a message. And if we do what these verses are telling us to do, we will become better.
So, make a difference in yourself this Lent. Become better. You can do it.