“Therefore”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Wednesday, February 7, 2024
Romans 12:1-8 (Forward, p. 9) CEV p. 1184
I don’t know for sure how many ‘therefore’ passages there are in the apostle Paul’s writings—one concordance lists ten but leaves out the key one in today’s verse one--but regardless of their exact number, they do seem to serve a vital function. To me, they are sort of like the ‘therefore’ one finds in legal briefs or petitions. They build on what has been a weighty and informative preamble and explain where we should go from here.
And that indeed is what is happening in today’s passage. Paul has been building a rather convincing case about the incredible love, goodness, and mercy of God, and then suggests what our response should be in light of this. Today’s passage deals with just three of his suggestions, but in reality, these are only a start:
a) personal decision making and behaviour:
-our bodies are to be used solely as God intends.
-we should no longer let the ‘world’ or this ‘age’ and their ideas
and values shape how we live and bend us into conformity
with them.
-and our thinking should be changed, transformed, so we are
fully aware of what God wants.
b) relations to others in the church:
-we are all members in one body, the Church, and all have a part
to play within it.
-that means that, while recognizing ‘our place’, we should do
so humbly and with good common sense. We should not think
of ourselves as being better than we are—much less ‘better’ than
anyone else!
c) use of our personal God-given gifts:
-we all have gifts, gifts that vary from each other, and should use
whatever gift we have faithfully and with diligence and for the
overall good of the Church.
All this stems from a sense of recognition and gratitude for what God has already done for us, and isn’t this most appropriate? Yes, indeed, a worthy response to God’s love, goodness, and mercy.
Forward notes: “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (verse 1b).
“In this passage in Romans, we are asked to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. More than 2,000 years later, we are still learning about how we use our bodies and how our bodies impact our lived experiences.
“In light of this passage, I reflect on how the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has helped our society and church recognize the injustice that Black bodies are not valued the same as white bodies. We have also seen how bringing our bodies together in community, whether into the streets for protest or into the church pews for worship, is very different from meeting in virtual spaces.
“As we consider how important our bodies are, this passage from Romans takes on new meaning and challenges us to consider how our physical bodies, through our presence and actions, influence our spiritual, societal, and cultural health. These words from Paul call upon us to reframe and transform how we use our bodies and how every body is worthy of full and abundant life.”
Moving Forward: “How is your body a living sacrifice?”