Romans 12:1-2

I only made it through two verses today, as you can see, because I was just so struck by them. My brain just got stuck on offering ourselves as a living sacrifice and then that encouragement that we not be conformed to this world. They are both kind of scary thoughts to me. I don't know if I can do it. I easily fall into the traps of this world, or liking the things other people like, watching the shows that others watch, I am tempted by greed, wealth, and all of those "things" that commercials are trying to make me long for. I like trying to keep up with various cultural, and more specifically pop cultural, news and trends. I am pretty fully enmeshed in this world. Yet we are called to not be conformed to this world, to be in the world and not of it.

To offer ourselves as a living sacrifice? I have to admit I don't know if I like the sounds of that. I am an American. I am used to my freedom and doing what I want to do. I like to do it my way, to do my own thing. If I were to give myself as a sacrifice that would seem to suggest giving my whole life, giving my freedom, over to God. Oh, I know that God knows better and will take better care of me than I will, but I kind of like doing it my way. I kind of like doing my own thing, and if we're completely honest I suppose at a very base, sub-conscious level I might not really trust God enough.

This scares me a little. What Paul is calling us to, this call to live a life of faith, is a really radical, extreme sort of call. It's not really some mushy feel good religion like we often make it out to be. It's a life of sacrifice and living against our instincts. I pray today for the courage and strength to simply begin to attempt this radical way of life.