Do All To God's Glory

 

“Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.”

—Romans 6:13

Life is filled with choices. In fact, we make many hundreds of choices every day. We choose what we will wear, what we will eat, where we will go, with whom we will talk, and countless other such choices. We also choose the way we will relate to God.

In writing to the new “Christ’s-ones” gathered at Rome, the Apostle Paul carefully laid out the theology he had developed as a chosen servant of God. This was particularly significant to those Roman Christians because Paul had never yet had the chance to visit with them at the time of his writing. This also makes Paul’s words significant for us, as well.

Notice these words recorded in Romans 6:13:

Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.

Here Paul states a clear choice. It was common in Rome for the people to participate in all kinds of sexual sins. The practices of that day are detailed in many accounts by writers who lived contemporaneously with the Apostle Paul. The rankness of these sexual sins was very well known throughout the world. These sins were part of the downward slide of the Roman civilization that, over time and several generations, ultimately spelled its doom. The Apostle offers an alternative to the societal norm.

Paul urges the new Christians to set themselves apart from the society in which they lived by choosing to offer themselves wholly to God—to hold nothing back from Him. Not only were they to develop appropriate spiritual formation, they were to declare their wholehearted love for God by loving Him with all four human modalities: heart, soul, mind, and strength, or emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and physical. Can we do otherwise?

As we begin another new day, let’s make the choice urged upon us by the Apostle Paul. Let’s choose to give every aspect of our humanity to God, including all four modalities. Let’s not hold any part of us back from Him. In that way, we will declare our complete devotion to our God and our determination to serve Him fully.

 

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