First Day Of Spring Training

I coached baseball back in the day. The kids were too old for t-ball and not old enough for Little League. Most of the children had gone through either t-ball or coach pitch. They knew the fundamentals of how to play the game: keep your eye on the ball, put your glove on the ground, look at your target when throwing the ball, and so on. But, as we all know, knowing what to do and how to do it are two different things. Knowing what to do and putting knowledge into practice is challenging in nearly all aspects of life.

A handful of kids would show up every season without having played before; not knowing the fundamentals upon arrival was normal for them. I remember one boy whose life goal was hitting the ball as hard as possible. One significant problem with his philosophy was that it removed the fundamental of keeping your eye on the ball from his game. As soon as the pitcher released the ball, he would close his eyes and swing with all his might, usually swinging long before the ball got there and even at pitches that hit him because he was not looking at the ball. Eventually, he came around, but it took longer than it should have.

Sadly, in the church, a massive number of professing Christians know the fundamentals of the Christian life but do not know how to put them into practice, and the number of professing Christians who do not know the fundamentals is rising at an alarming rate.

If you fall into one of these categories, please, Christian, consider this column your first day of spring training. Let’s begin.

If I were marooned on a desert island and could only have one chapter of the Bible with me, I would choose Romans 12, especially the first two verses. Romans 12:1-2 contains the groundwork of knowing God’s will and living the Christian life. Today, we look at verse one.

Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

Using the term “brethren” shows that Paul is talking to Christians.

The phrase, “present your bodies a living sacrifice,” jumps off the page. What could this mean, and how do we apply it? It means to give your body to God. In last week’s column, I talked about how when your spirit receives the answers it is looking for, that will cause your spirit to see life differently, which will, in turn, cause your body to act accordingly. So, when we give God our body, we give Him our all: our spirit, soul, and body.

How do we put this into practice?

Psalm 37:3 sums it up. “Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.”

Christian, do you trust in the Lord? When you trust someone, you know they will not lie to you, and whatever advice they give you is for your benefit. When you read the scripture, do you believe every Word is true? Do you trust that the precepts of the Bible are the absolute best way to live your life? If you do, then the phrase of Psalm 37:3 is no problem at all: “and do good.”

The problem with many Christians is that they do not trust God enough to read the Bible. If you love and trust Him, wild horses could not keep you from opening the Holy Bible and seeing what God has to say. The only way a person can do what someone says when they won’t listen to what the person says is by accident.

Romans 12:1 explains that we present our bodies as a living sacrifice “by the mercies of God.” What does that mean, and how is it accomplished?

Part of God’s mercy is giving His children the strength and ability to do His will in our lives and on this earth. We must realize that anything we do for Him must be done by Him through us. Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Christians are the tools that God uses to accomplish His work in this world. The head of a hammer physically hits the head of the nail, but the carpenter swings the hammer. As Christians, we must realize that we do the physical work, but it is God who knows when and how to use us and provides the strength needed to pound the nails. All we are is a hammer. A hammer cannot do anything without the carpenter.

Romans 12:1 calls our living sacrifice “holy, acceptable unto God.” The answer to how we live a holy life is not as complicated as it seems. Follow the principles in Psalm 37:3, “Trust in the LORD, and do good…” Yes, it is easier said than done, but as the verse says, it boils down to faith. If you trust that God has your and His best interests at heart, doing what He says can become your natural response.

The “acceptable” part also comes down to faith. The first part of Hebrews 11:6 reads, “But without faith it is impossible to please him…” You cannot please someone if your actions are unacceptable to them.

Faith, then, is the key to living the Christian life. Salvation comes by faith, and living the Christian life is accomplished by faith. We must read and study the Bible. We cannot know God’s desires for our lives if we do not read His Word. We must trust His Word to incorporate it into our lives. As the Word shapes our lives, we need the faith to rely on His mercy and strength for Him to work in us and through us.

According to God, all this is “your reasonable service.”