A Meditation on How Surrendering Your Body to God in Worship Transforms You

So this is not a podcast where you can multitask while you listen. I’m not trying to give you new information or things to consider like other podcasts. I love those kinds of podcasts. But in this podcast I’m wanting to give you an experience. I want you to learn to reintegrate your body with your mind’s awareness so that you can notice the “red flag” when you feel tension or anxiety in your body. It’s a red flag that you’re experiencing a vertical disconnect with God. And I want you to experience what a vertical connection feels like through envisioning the unseen reality of God’s presence in this moment and his presence in your body by his Holy Spirit. If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast. Romans 11:36 - 12:2 (NIV) “For from him and through him and for him are all things. …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.“ “Conform” — to shape your self according to a “scheme” — a model, pattern. “Be transformed” — to be changed into another form. Metamorphoses. It’s “passive” in the Greek, which means it’s something being do TO you.  In 8:29-30, God is “conforming” (Greek: forming WITH) the image of Christ — glory, righteousness, beauty, power, eternal.  So, Romans 12:2 is saying, “Don’t shape your self/life according to the model/pattern of this world (Greek: “age”), but let God re-shape you to what you were ultimately created to be — what Jesus came and died and rose from death to re-shape you into — his glory and righteousness and beauty and power and eternal transcendence.  One is a downward spiral into a dead end. The other is an upward metamorphosis of eternal, glorious transcendence. “For from him and through him and for him are all things. …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.“ So even though being transformed is something done to us, we’re not totally passive in our transformation. We DO two things: 1) offer our body to God in worship, and 2) renew our mind. (We’ll meditate on the second one in our next episode). A huge part of transformation happens when you offer your body to God as your true worship. Your body even now is part of this transformation. The redemption of your body is the hope for which you have been saved (8:23-24). Feel this imagery — using your biblically guided imagination — into your body now. God’s Spirit even now transforming you as you’re offering your body to him as true worship. Feel that into your body. Who can you share this podcast with? If you found this episode helpful, consider sharing it on social media or texting it to a friend you think might benefit from it. Follow Dave Cover on Twitter @davecover Follow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePod Our audio engineer is Diego Huaman. This podcast is a ministry of The Crossing, a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located.