Take a moment to read Romans 12:1-8 before reading the devotional below.
So far, Paul has written a letter that has helped put Jesus into the scope of Jewish history and uphold the importance of God’s special chosen people while also explaining why God would open the door to the Gentiles. He has made a clear argument that we all need saving, no matter who we are, and in God’s mercy he has made that possible through Jesus. How are we to respond to such mercy on God’s part? What does God want now from his special Jewish people, and what does he require of the Gentiles?
God wants one thing: you. Your life, just like Christ’s, is the sacrifice he desires. The law was an earthly system that pointed to the need for salvation. Those sacrificial requirements had to be repeated over and over because they were never good enough. But Jesus gave us a model for what it means to lay down our lives. When we do this, we live as fundamentally different people. Not Jews, not Gentiles, but instead one people united by God’s Spirit. No one is better or worse than anyone else, and we function best when we are working together as a body.
Here’s your freedom for today: you have a place in God’s family. No matter how God made you, no matter what skills or abilities you have, God has a place for you in his family. We all work together, with everyone giving of themselves for something far greater. Devotion and love for our Heavenly Father unites us and supersedes all other identities we may hold. To some that may sound like a creepy cult, but a close family is nothing of the sort. Wouldn’t you want a place to belong where you are free to be yourself? Most of the world is searching for just that, and looking in all the wrong places. God loves you, wants you, and invites you. It’s completely up to you whether you come along.