Dive by Steven Curtis Chapman
from his 1999 album, SpeechlessThe long awaited rains
Have fallen hard upon the thirsty ground
And carved their way to where
The wild and rushing river can be found
And like the rains
I have been carried here to where the river flows, yeah
My heart is racing and my knees are weak
As I walk to the edge
I know there is no turning back
Once my feet have left the ledge
And in the rush I hear a voice
That’s telling me it’s time to take the leap of faith, So here I go
I have been reading AJ Tozer’s “How to Be Filled with the Holy Spirit.” I prayed at the Alpha retreat to be filled with the Spirit, and God did answer that prayer, but not in the way I had hoped. But in obedience I will keep on asking because I know, I KNOW that God wants this for me. The first verse Tozer addresses is:
Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.
Holy
hagios
hag’-ee-os
From hagos (an awful thing) compare G53, [H2282]; sacred (physically pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially consecrated): – (most) holy (one, thing), saint.Service
latreia
lat-ri’-ah
From G3000; ministration of God, that is, worship: – (divine) service.
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia has a definition of holy as “That is holy which belongs to Yahweh.” So upon salvation I became holy – and daily become more holy “in truth” as I am further sanctified. So by God’s grace I am eligible to be sacrificed. (That really sounds creepy…! But after all, it’s a living sacrifice.) I love that this is my “reasonable service.” When I think of “reasonable service” I think that the hotel room is clean and there are towels. The waitress brought food that was hot and didn’t spill it all over me when she set it down. Basically the minimum I would expect in exchange for the payment I’m giving. What’s normal. If I don’t receive reasonable service, I get aggravated. So in exchange for the payment of Jesus’ death which provided my holiness, the very minimum I ought to be returning is a cheerful payment of every aspect of my whole life. Not exactly what you’d call a one-to-one exchange, but it’s the best I can do. The medium of exchange for this transaction, like we might pay cash for a meal, is worship. I pay my worship to God. I think of this like the Daughter Of The House used to empty her piggybank to buy the Man Of The House a Father’s Day present. I had provided both the piggybank and the cash in it, but even so, I solomnly accepted (with maybe an inward smile) what she gave. She gave all of what she had. As a parent I was pleased and proud that she wasn’t hoarding the money to buy candy or toys, that she was doing the right thing on her own initiative. Maybe that’s an odd way of looking at this topic…
Albert Barnes Notes on the Bible
Holy - This means properly without blemish or defect. No other sacrifice could be made to God. The Jews were expressly forbid to offer what was lame, or blind, or in anyway deformed; Deu_15:21; Lev_1:3, Lev_1:10; Lev_3:1; Lev_22:20; Deu_17:1; compare Mal_1:8. If offered without any of these defects, it was regarded as holy, that is, appropriately set apart, or consecrated to God. In like manner we are to consecrate to God our best faculties; the vigor of our minds, and talents, and time. Not the feebleness of sickness merely; not old age alone; not time which we cannot otherwise employ, but the first vigor and energies of the mind and body; our youth, and health, and strength. Our sacrifice to God is to be not divided, separate; but it is to be entire and complete. Many are expecting to be Christians in sickness; many in old age; thus purposing to offer unto him the blind and the lame. The sacrifice is to be free from sin. It is not to be a divided, and broken, and polluted service. It is to be with the best affections of our hearts and lives.
Which is your reasonable service – The word rendered “service” latreian properly denotes worship, or the homage rendered to God. The word “reasonable” with us means what is “governed by reason; thinking, speaking, or acting conformably to the dictates of reason” (Webster); or what can be shown to be rational or proper. This does not express the meaning of the original. That word logikēn denotes what pertains to the mind, and a reasonable service means what is mental, or pertaining to reason. It stands opposed, nor to what is foolish or unreasonable, but to the external service of the Jews, and such as they relied on for salvation. The worship of the Christian is what pertains to the mind, or is spiritual; that of the Jew was external. Chrysostom renders this phrase “your spiritual ministry.” The Syriac, “That ye present your bodies, etc., by a rational ministry.”
We may learn from this verse,
(1) That the proper worship of God is the free homage of the mind. It is not forced or constrained. The offering of ourselves should be voluntary. No other can be a true offering, and none other can be acceptable.
(2) we are to offer our entire selves, all that we have and are, to God. No other offering can be such as he will approve.
(3) the character of God is such as should lead us to that. It is a character of mercy; of long-continued and patient forbearance, and it should influence us to devote ourselves to him.
(4) it should be done without delay. God is as worthy of such service now as he ever will or can be. He has every possible claim on our affections and our hearts.
Yep – I’m diving in!
