April 27, 2020

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform 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."
Romans 12:1-2
"As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
1 Peter 1:14-16

Jesus is the only person who lived a life of absolute surrender to God from His birth to the cross. By following His example and practicing what He taught, it doesn’t take long to realize how vulnerable I have to be in order to abandon the pattern of the world and obey the Lord. The process of learning to trust Him and conforming to His ways only happens when I am willing to take up my cross and resign myself to similar misunderstanding and conflict that Jesus experienced as He followed His Heavenly Father. It is my earnest and sincere prayer that I will have the courage and perseverance to follow Jesus, no matter what it costs me to forsake my former way of thinking and living.