BEING REASONABLE

BEING REASONABLE

Wednesday, November 06, 2019

Romans 12:1…

  (ASV)  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.

  (CEV)  Dear friends, God is good. So I beg you to offer your bodies to him as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing. That's the most sensible way to serve God.

  (ESV)  I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

  (GNB)  So then, my friends, because of God's great mercy to us I appeal to you: Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer.

  (GW)  Brothers and sisters, in view of all we have just shared about God's compassion, I encourage you to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, dedicated to God and pleasing to him. This kind of worship is appropriate for you.

  (ISV)  I therefore urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercies, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices that are holy and pleasing to God, for this is the reasonable way for you to worship.

  (KJV)  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.

  (LITV)  Therefore, brothers, I call on you through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.

  (MKJV)  I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.

  (RV)  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

  Familial education left me ingrained with “being reasonable” meaning compromise with people. Without realizing it, this was just one of many worldly concepts I carried into new life in Christ that began 50+ years ago.

  In studying God’s Word (Living - Jn.1:1; Written - 2Tim.3:16) I soon discovered how wrong I was to think and live this way. I now understand “reasonable” is sensibly submitting to God’s mercies. And that God’s Way is surprisingly often not man’s way: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways, says Jehovah. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”  (Isa.55:8-9; also note 1Sam.15:22-23)

  Since anger, thirst for vengeance, and a few other nasty traits are no longer a personal plague, it would be easy to think myself completely on the God-pleasing side of Romans 12:1. I confess my life still counts unreasonable moments.

  How fortunate that though unreasonable moments suppress God’s mercies in my life (1Thes.5:19), my actions do not and cannot diminish His ever available compassions.

  O’ how I thank Him for His sacrificial love! In response, may I walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and has given Himself for us as obedient fragrant sacrifice to God.(Mt.26:39-42; Rom.12:1-3; Eph.5:2)

  Let us without delay join together in being reasonable His way.  

EBB4

PS: Thank you to those reporting that yesterday’s DT, A BAT IS A BIRD?, clarified the issue for them. I’m pleased that they now have the answer for challengers.