“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2)
The world is wallowing in a state of social and spiritual chaos. Most of what the world does, values, and celebrates is laced with evil and lies and all that is incompatible with the values of God’s Kingdom. No compromise can be made between the world and the Word of God, though many try to.
We Christians must not get sucked into the rhetoric of politics, social media, virtue signaling, and the cancel culture all laced with malice and selfishness. We are to promote the Word of God which proclaims the truth all human beings need in order to live a life that glorifies God, not self. The way of the world may at times value mercy, but usually to those the system deems worthy of it, celebrities and the elite. For those who do not support this worldly agenda, however, there is no mercy or forgiveness, only angry rhetoric and punishment.
Yet God’s way is mercy to the undeserving, the removal of deserved punishment, based merely on His own will. The way of the Lord is to give without expecting anything in return. The way of the Lord is to love unconditionally, even to love our enemies and those who mistreat us.
Paul says that if we want to know and do God’s will, we are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. The person who lacks such a renewed mind can never hope to know God’s will, let alone carry it out. The only way to know God’s will is by being transformed by faith in Christ alone. In the life of faith, the believer remains in a constant state of renewal. The Holy Spirit works on our hearts and minds so that we may daily submit ourselves to God on His altar. If we want to know God’s will, if we want to be changed into His likeness, if we want to defeat the evil in this world, we must allow Him to keep renewing us day by day by feeding on His Spiritual food, not the food of the media which renders us useless for the Kingdom of God. The food of the Lord Jesus is His word which works through the instrument of His Holy Spirit and His church to conform us to His pattern and His will through works of love, compassion, and mercy.
How does this look? Saint John Chrysostom, the 4th century Patriarch of Constantinople advised:
And how is the body to become a sacrifice? Let the eye look upon no evil thing, and it has already become a sacrifice; let the tongue say nothing filthy, and it has become an offering; let your hand do nothing evil, and it has become a whole burnt offering. But even this is not enough, for we must also have good works. The hand must do charitable deeds and alms, the mouth must bless those who curse it, and the ears must find time to listen to the reading of Scripture. For sacrifice allows of no unclean thing: sacrifice is the first-fruit of all other actions. Let us then with our hands, and feet, and mouth, and our entire body, yield a first-fruit unto God.