What is the Will of the Lord?
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1-2 NKJV)
How do we Know the will of the Lord?
All of us at one time or another have asked this question. If we are saved, we want to know why God saved us and how He wants to use us. If we are unsaved we probably don’t believe that God intervenes in our lives and likely we don’t ask Him to show us His will.
If we believe the Bible and if we believe God we know that God is doing everything in HIs power to save sinners, including sending the Lord to the cross! We read, “He desires all men (all humanity) to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4 NKJV).” It is HIs will to save!
Again we read, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise (to come again), as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9 NKJV)” Again, it is His will to keep us from perishing!
Romans 3 vs Romans 12
Normally we hear people say that they have given their life to the Lord when they trusted the Savior. That must not have been true with the Roman believers, because the Apostle Paul calls those to whom he writes Saints, but yet after explaining what they have believed in the first few chapters, he asks them to offer themselves as living sacrifices in chapter 12. So can we be saved and not be “living sacrifices?” It seems obvious to me that that is true!
A living sacrifice would mean that we follow the Lord even if it meant death. In the old testament, following the Lord brought physical blessing. They were able to dwell in the land. In the new testament, following the Lord is quite different. Following Him, requires us to deny ourselves and take up a cross which is a place of death. We read in Mark 8:34,, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Matthew and Luke also record this same admonition. In addition Paul says, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12 NKJV).” That persecution may come from family and friends and religious people. See Mark 10:34-39 and Luke 15:2.
The early disciples did take up their crosses. They died as martyrs in many cases. Now it is clear to me that the God who wants to save us from eternal damnation also knows that following the Lord in this dispensation will be at a cost. The blessing comes in eternity, not in the here and now.
The Will of God in our Verse
I believe that if we present our bodies as living sacrifices we are proving or testing the truth of the will of God in our lives. It could be argued that those who present their bodies as living sacrifices will know what job to take, what partner to marry, what house to buy, etc. While I do think that the Lord can guide us in those things, I believe that presenting our bodies as living sacrifices and not being conformed (or molded) to this world (age), and having our minds transformed so that we think properly is in fact the will of God that we are to prove in this verse.
Were we taught that the Gospel would require sacrifice? Would we have signed up to be followers of the Lord if we had known the sacrifices that would be involved? There is reproach, criticism, loss of friends and sometimes loss of jobs associated with not being part of this particular age of this society. Most of us have not lost our lives because of the Gospel but that day may be coming. Are we going to be faithful as followers of the Lord?
Question?
Do we tell those to whom we preach the Gospel that being saved for eternity is a great blessing but the matter of being a disciple (or follower) of the Lord, comes at a great cost? How many of us who are saints are truly following the Lord?
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of August 31 and September 7, 2025
If you would like further conversation about the issues in these meditations, contact me at collinsbd@yahoo.com and I will try to accommodate you with a virtual Bible Study.