Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
They could have been doing anything else on a week night, and yet they gathered as women. Each had come with her own story. She likely had many other things pressing for her attention. Still each of us came, drawn by the need of a weary heart to drink from the well.
We marveled at the gathering of women sitting around a simple room. There were no tables adorned, no perfectly prepared cookie platters, no flowers or tea. They had arrived with one expectation: to meet with Jesus.
Women talked around the room giving testimony to His presence. Exchanging stories of brokenness for beauty, lives of bondage exchanged for freedom, weariness in exchange for worship. We came.
She could have been anywhere else, but where she longed to be was kneeling at the feet of her Savior, pouring perfumed oil upon his feet. Mary could have heeded the voice calling from the kitchen to help with the work. Instead she was wrapped in the presence of her Lord. There was no place she would rather be.
We want to find rest and renewal, restoration for our bankrupt, tired-out, addicted, worn-out souls, crushed by the weight of this world. The voices keep calling, the burdens keep piling, the notifications keep humming, the squares keep scrolling, the screen is illuminating all my broken places. And I break.
There is only one thing He requires and that is a broken and laid low spirit. So I come. Offering all of my broken pieces and laying them at His feet, that’s all I have to give. And in exchange for all these scraps and this mess, He gives me peace and rest.
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. (Romans 12:1-2 the Message)
The women gathered in the beauty of brokenness, bringing baskets-full of our failures and weakness. Laid them down in exchange for His presence and fullness of grace. We marveled at how they had been with Jesus.
Renew
Read the verse of the day: ROMANS 12:2
Look up today’s verse and read it in context of the chapter. Have a pen and paper ready. We will work through five steps.
- Write down the Bible verse.
- Find the key word and circle it.
- Look up the definition of the word (notice how it is used in context).
- If you are reading from a different translation of the Bible, which word is used instead?
- Underline where you find a promise. Find the heart of this verse and mark it with a heart shape.
(Click here for How to Use a Word Study.)
Meditation
What does this verse reveal about God’s heart? How does this truth refresh your soul? Turn this into your prayer today.
Please leave a comment below to share something that touched you in today’s devotional.
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