Renewal
It’s 27 degrees outside this morning, there is a cloud cover blocking the brilliant blue sky and any potential for sunshine to get through. You are bundled up because the wind is blowing a blistering 20 mph against you as you make your way to your car. You scold yourself for not buying the remote start system in the summer when they were on sale. Inside your frozen car you turn the ignition, the engine roars to life and is swiftly drown out by the blaring radio. You realize you forgot to turn the volume down when you jumped from your car in a haste to get inside the night before. The next few moments of your life make this dismal, cold, hard winter a million times worse as you hear:
News Flash! “Spring is cancelled this year. No fresh flowers, the grass will not turn vibrant shades of green and the trees will not bloom with life. There will be no morning dew to provide continued moisture for the Earth in the early hours as the sun starts to rise. The slight warmth of the air will not reach out to gently caress you as you emerge each morning to start your day. Spring is cancelled”, the radio personality repeats. “Old man winter is here to stay.” You involuntarily punch the knob, turning the radio off as your mind races with thoughts of despair.
“NOOOOOOOOO!!!” You are abruptly ripped from your thoughts as your realize someone is screaming. It is you. Just as swiftly as you began, you stop. Your thoughts continue racing with many questions and one common word.
“Why? Why? Why?”
In all my years on this Earth, I cannot remember a time when Spring didn’t come. It may have come a bit earlier or later than I would have liked or expected, but it has always come.
After God destroyed the Earth with a flood, He made a new promise to us concerning seasons. In Genesis 8:22, God said, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” His promise was that seasons would come and go as long as the Earth is here. He never fails to bring Spring.
In fact, God takes the time each year to provide a renewed Earth for us with fresh flowers, green grass, budding trees, warmer air, longer days, and animals coming out of hibernation (and people too). He gives new life to the Earth.
Several years ago, I was pondering this very thing as I was standing on my front porch. I reached out to touch the new green buds on the limbs of the tree that hung over the porch decking. They were so alive. New. Fresh. Pregnant with a bloom spending its last few days being formed before it bursts forth in all its glory to grace the world with its beauty.
In those moments, I recall thinking I wanted to be renewed with new life just as the Lord brings new life on the Earth during Spring. I wanted my worship to be fresh. My relationship with Him to find new heights of connection and deeper levels of surrender. I embarked on a new journey with Him that early Spring for just that kind of renewal.
Years later and I am still on that journey. It seems as though the renewal isn’t just one time. Renewal can happen over and over again as we grow in Christ.
Recently, I’ve found myself in a season of yearning for renewal. And if you know me or have read very much of my blog, you know I often hear from the Lord via the same message over and over.
Romans 12:1-2 has been that message as of late.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.”
ROMANS 12:1-2 KJV
I’ve been thinking about the name of this blog. Jesus Through Joanie. And about how it is truly about allowing Jesus to shine through me. It isn’t about me at all. It is about Him, His work, His word, His doing, etc. etc.
To present my body as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God means to be willing to die to myself, my desires, my wants, my will; and surrender all of who I am to all of who He is in order to allow the Holy Spirit to work through me.
Read those last few words of verse one again though. Which is your reasonable service. The Word of God in this passage of scripture is saying that this ask to present ourselves to Him is a reasonable (appropriate) act of service (some translations say worship) to the Lord our God.
But how do we really present our bodies as a sacrifice? I believe the second verse gives us a bit of a roadmap for how to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. I intend to unpack this more in coming posts. In the meantime, I encourage you to dive into the Digger Deeper section below.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank You so much that we do not have to experience a world where Spring does not exist. As expectant as I am for Spring to arrive, help me to be just as expectant for my own renewal from the inside out. Through this Spring season, may I truly experience a renewal of my mind and soul, so that when I present my body as that living sacrifice it is holy and acceptable to You. I ask these things in Jesus’ name,
Amen!
Digging Deeper:
When you read Romans 12:1-2, what were your initial thoughts? Take a moment to journal those thoughts.
I challenge you to spend one week (7 days) with this scripture. Read it daily, pray it (see below for an example), listen for His voice to guide you, and journal your thoughts daily, and the things you hear from the Lord about your own renewal. Then join me next time as we unpack more about this scripture.
Example for praying Romans 12:1-2
Lord Jesus, I ask You by the mercies of God our Father to help me to present my body as a living sacrifice that is holy and acceptable to God our Father, which is an appropriate act of service. Help me to not be conformed to this world, but allow the Holy Spirit living in me to transform me by the renewing of my mind so that Your Holy Spirit may prove to me what is that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. Thank you Lord Jesus, in your Holy name I pray, Amen.
