God and you

Day 114

'Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.'

Romans 12:1-2

Well, I'm not exactly sure whether we have done this passage before on a previous day of this devotional, but hey, it must have been a long time ago, so I'll just do it again. Besides, I felt God telling me to do this passage, so there must be something good about what I can say. The first very, very important piece of information I will give you is giving yourself as a living sacrifice doesn't mean to kill yourself or anything like that (just for people who were wondering)!

No, when this passage says to give yourself as a living sacrifice, it basically means to find a way to serve God all through your life. This could be through your job, or by some other way. When it talks about the ways of this world, it means where you get a job that gives you loads of money and makes you rich and famous. Because that's pretty much what everyone else wants. But if God wants us to serve him, we could try and revolve our lives around love, not money. We could do what he wants us to do, instead of what we think we want to do. Unless God really wants you to get rich and have a load of money. In which case, I'm not stopping you.

But what about all the talents we have been given? What about the things we love? If you follow God's plan, then you will realise that these things will become very important. After all, every good thing has been given from god, right? So if we combine those good things, those talents, those things we really enjoy, and serving God throughout our lives, what do we get? We get the plan God has for you. So say when you're older you're really good at sport, and you enjoy working with young people, then maybe God wants you to join those things together and teach young people in worse-off areas of the world to play sport and have a good time! OK, that was kinda a rubbish example, but still. You get the idea. God has a plan for you. He wants you to serve him, and he has given you all your talents and stuff so that you can do it in a way you absolutely love.

Prayer

Dear Lord,

Thank you for everything you have given me. Thank you that I really enjoy........................ and I am good at....................... Please help me to serve you throughout my life. Help me to listen to and to follow the plan you have for me.

Amen