“that … you may have knowledge of the good and pleasing and complete purpose of God” (Rom 12:2b, BBE)
When Jesus wrestled with God about the unfolding plan for His life and whether or not He wanted to go along with it, He chose to be obedient, even if it meant it would cost Him His life (Phil 2:8). Thus He could say: “… nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42)! Jesus continuously made a decision to submit Himself to the perfect will of God.
The first two verses of Rom 12 deal with this crucially important aspect of our walk of faith: to position yourself in relation to the will of God for your life. We have already dealt with various aspects of this in previous teachings, for example that God has a clear plan for your life which is known as your redemptive purpose (or the reason for which you were created). This plan was hand-designed by God for you before the creation of the world and corresponds with who you are called to be, especially in terms of your passions. We can call it the “high calling” of God (Phil 3:14). We have pointed out that sin, in essence, is to “miss your mark”, in other words to not follow the will of God in your life. And we have also shown how God in Christ has ordained “first works” which He prepared beforehand that we should just walk in them (Eph 2:10).
If these things are true in your life, then it means that you have become “a living sacrifice” – you continuously lay yourself down on the altar of God’s will for your life. Paul calls it the foundation of your “reasonable service”. In none of the almost forty translations that I consulted could I find an acceptable translation of this. “Reasonable”, means according to reason, intellect or understanding (logikos in Greek), but “reasonable service” is difficult to unpack. The Greek word here is latreia, which can be best translated as: to execute the sacred will. Thus, as a living sacrifice you knowingly execute the sacred will.
This means that you must KNOW what the will of God is and that you must go through a continuous process of changing the way you think about yourself, about God and about the world in order to break through the mould in which Satan has formed over you and thereby change your behaviour accordingly. Only then will you be able to break through the “refuge of lies” (Isa 28:7) constructed over you and move past the “good and pleasing” will of God to the “perfect will” of God.
- Sela: Pray through Jer 29:11-13 in the light of this revelation.
- Read: Ex 26; Ps 76; Mark 2
- Memorise: Mark 2:22
