Being in the Family of God

 Continuing the thought from my last blog entry about how we belong to our Lord Jesus now and how we should not use any part of our body or mind to sin, we see in Romans 12:1,2 what God wants us to do with ourselves.

Romans 12:1-2 KJV

[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. [2] And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

I used the King James version because it really hones in on what God wants. He wants us to present ourselves to Him as a "living sacrifice" set apart for God, which is what "holy" means, and acceptable to Him which is our "reasonable service." 

Why is it reasonable for us to do this now as Christians? Because we became His adopted children when we were born again by the Holy Spirit. He expects certain ways of conduct from His children, which IS reasonable. He never asks us to do or behave in ways that are unreasonable or ways that are not good. He loves us and wants nothing but the best for His children. He knows what is good for us and best for us, so He expects us to do what He wants.

Just as we did what our Earthly parents asked us to do when we were children, now we do what our spiritual parent wants us to do. We love God and do what pleases Him and is acceptable to Him, which is not hard. Jesus summed it up in Matthew when He said love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your fellowman as yourself (paraphrase). Everything hinges on loving God and loving people. 

We do whatever He wants because we love Him and respect Him as our Heavenly Father. We belong to His Son now, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is Head over the Church, so we do what He says also. The Holy Spirit is in our spirit now also so we are never alone. He helps us live our lives in this new spiritual family.

So being set apart for God, in His family, we do not do what everyone else does. We do not live by our innate instincts or human nature, we "walk by the Spirit." We live how the Holy Spirit guides us in our spirit. We do not conform to the patterns of the world that are outside the kingdom of God. We live our lives in the family of God. 

So do what our Heavenly Father wants us to do with our body and mind out of respect for Him. He loves us and in His Word He will never steer us in the wrong direction. He will always love and protect us as we do what He says in the Bible. We'll have the best life possible in our new family- the family of God.

So "find out what pleases the Lord." Why? We are in His family now. Renew your mind everyday as to whose family you are in and live accordingly. So cool!!! Praise God!!!

Love you all dear readers,

Jeffrey Post