Romans 12: 1 – 2
I urge you therefore, 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. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
There are two aspects of these verses that are important for health and healing and they both point to our obligations. The hard truth is that we are responsible for our health. That is not to say that poor health is a reason to condemn ourselves, but while God can put all the tools in our hands, we must be good stewards of these gifts. This series is meant to help us all steward the great gifts the Lord has given us so that we can live in the divine health which He purposes for us.
The first thing you should do with your body, a new car, new house or anything is to dedicate it to God. This is worship. It is our service to our Lord and King. We have to get the revelation that our bodies are the temple of God. Didn’t we see in yesterday’s Word of the Day that all three persons of the Trinity live in us? Bells should be going off in our heads on that. Christians likely find this idea attractive, so the first step is to present your body to the Lord as a temple, a sanctuary and as Paul wrote, a holy sacrifice. Whoa! That is big stuff there. Give your body to God. Ask Him to come live inside you, to be with you and to strengthen your mortal body with His presence. Doesn’t that sound good? Then, let that revelation sink into your heart that God is with you. He never, for one moment, leaves you, never abandons you. When you have dedicated your body to Him, and have received the truth of His abiding presence, you will think about yourself and your body differently.
I want to make one caveat here though. This series is meant to help you grow in the grace and mercy of our dear Lord. Do not use this as an opportunity to criticize yourself. As you and the Lord walk through life, He will likely show you things you can change to improve your life. Let it be a positive change. Do not take this dedication and offering of your body to the Lord as a time to condemn yourself. That is what the devil does, not us. We are to love ourselves in generous humility.
Okay, here we go. Let’s move to the second point. In verse 2 Paul wrote, “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Why? So that we can learn, hear and prove the perfect will of God. So, he said, first, present your body to God. Then, don’t be conformed by what you learn and hear in the world. Instead, let God transform you. Think of it this way, give God your body and then let him transform your mind about what to do with it. Let Him author your health plan. He wants to guide you and teach you. He is going to transform your thinking so that you will be on that right path.
Does this sound good to you so far? I really hope so. Here is a challenging truth though. When God begins to transform your thinking, it may come to you through other people, and it may be that God is actually transforming your habits as well. This would all be so easy if God would send His big booming voice out of heaven to very clearly tell us what to do. That is not how His revelation usually comes to us. More often than not, it comes through other people. God believes in miracle healings, and I don’t want you to lose sight of that but He uses many methods to heal.
I will use myself as an example. I have been praying about my knees and believing God for healing. I listen to Him in my own prayer time and try to be diligent about anything I believe is Him. Well, recently I realized that all the things I was doing weren’t getting the job done. I said to a friend, “I think I am going to have to break down and see a physical therapist.” The next day a postcard came in the mail telling me that a new service had been added to my health insurance that allowed me to work with a physical therapist virtually. It didn’t take a nuclear physicist to figure out that was God. Then, within two weeks of that a friend introduced me to a product with great potential for health and renewal.
So, what was happening here? God began sending people to me to offer me different opportunities for my health. A cynic is not a faith person, so I choose not to be cynical. I choose to believe and to embrace hope. Even though I wanted my faith to miraculously heal my knees, Father had people waiting in the wings to bring me good news. I tell you this as a warning. God wants to renew your thinking, so you absolutely have to be open-minded. You must let Him guide you. Of course, it is going to be new to you and sometimes even strange. Otherwise, you would have already known it and would be applying that knowledge. How is God to teach us if we won’t learn? I don’t want you to miss out on what He is saying because the knowledge comes from a person. People are God’s hands in the earth. People are how He spreads His good news. If we knew it all, we wouldn’t need His wisdom. So, let the Lord renew your mind. Allow Him to shake up your thinking.
In conclusion, here is how you can cooperate with God in your own healing and in sustaining good health. First, dedicate your body to Him and to His service. Present it to Him as His own temple. Second, allow Him to renew your thinking. Shake out the cobwebs. Get some new thoughts. Read a book. Reach out to someone for their thoughts. Let the Lord speak to you in your spirit but also through other people. Never, ever get so holy that you think God doesn’t speak to you through other people. Be transformed in mind and body. Be renewed.