Principles or Prescription?

Romans 12:1-2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Growing up I attended two different types of churches. Both good in their own way and both bad as well. The first taught that you could lose your salvation. So each Sunday the altar filled with repentant sinners once again asking God to save them. We later moved to another church where legalism reigned supreme. No longer did we worry about our salvation being lost - we now worried about the do's and don'ts. There was a laundry list of things that good Christian's didn't do. Christianity didn't come across very joyful to me in those days.

All along the way, I have questioned why. Why is it that man has such a struggle with simply listening to what God's word says. Why do we feel that we have to "clarify" it by making our own little lists and prescribed ways of doing things?

God did not set down a book of rules. Yes, there are some in His word. Do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not commit adultery... Those are very clear cut and non-negotiable. But, He never said, "Do not attend a football game on Sunday, do not go to a bowling alley if there is a bar attached, do not have a glass of wine, etc. What the word of God has given to us in these gray areas are principles to live by not prescriptions.

Do all to the glory of God, offend not your weaker brother, remember the judgement seat of Christ. All of these statements in Scripture are meant to be used as principles to guide us in our decision making. Some are more vertical as in the statement to do all to the glory of God and some are horizontal as in do not offend your weaker brother. When we are confronted with decisions about what we should or should not do - can we honestly say that we keep these living principles in mind?

When Paul wrote in Romans that we were to present our bodies as living sacrifices and that we were to be holy and pleasing unto God he was not giving us a prescription of how to do that. There were not step-by-step instructions on how to live this Christian life. What he did say was that we were to not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. When people wonder what it means to be conformed to this world, I think that it is because they do not want to put the principles into practice. Can I do this and bring God glory? Can I do this and not offend my brother? Hard things to do but I believe that is what God intended.

A living sacrifice. That is what all of this means to me. To sacrifice what I want or what my freedom in Christ has given me in order to not offend. Laying down my wants to bring God glory. This is the principle of life. Not a laundry list of do's and don'ts. I have grown weary of trying to live up to standards set by fallible humans. I want to live the energized and joyful life that God intended. And this can only be done by putting into practice the principles of His word. And this only can be done by continually submitting to His Spirit as He speaks to us. This then is my earnest plea - "God, help me to be conformed to the image of your dear son that I may walk in abundance of joy."