Two Basic Battles For Every Christian: Romans 12:1-2
“1) Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2) And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:1-2
There are two basic battles in these verses that every Christian must fight and win. From verse one we have the battle for the body. This relates to morals and sexual purity. Your body matters to God!
Paul dealt in depth with the Corinthian believers on this issue. (See 1 Corinthians 6:9-20) He remained them that their body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and belonged to God and that they were not free to indulge in sexual immorality. You cannot walk in fellowship with God while crawling in bed with the worlds sexual values.
God wants to break every sexual bondage in your life and set you free to worship Him in Spirit and in truth. (John 4:24) That means that God and the Bible and not the world or your lusts have to become the new definition of your morality. Period! There is no fudging on this point. Don’t let Satan try to fool you into trying to worship a holy God while embracing hellish moral values. Jesus made this massage abundantly clear to the Samaritan woman.
From verse two we have the battle for the mind. This relates to basic life philosophy and world view. Your mind matters to God! You can either be conformed to this world or you can be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Ephesians 4:22-24 emphasizes this same vital process. Inviting the Holy Spirit to renew your mind is the prerequisite for putting off the old self and putting on the new self.
You will never be able to discover, discern or do the will of God with a worldly mindset or secular moral value system. You will condemn yourself to a life of giving empty lip service to God while living in bondage and constantly wrestling with God. This is the recipe for failure and defeat in the cocoon of an empty religious facade.
There is no shortcut. You must invite God’s grace and the power of the Holy Spirit to help you fight and win these two battles. Victory will involve total surrender to God in these two vital area’s of life. Every man and woman of God will face these two battles. The process of sanctification leads across these two battlefields.
Daily Bible Commentary By Terry Baxter: Cofounder of GoServ Global
