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
“We are not all called to the sacrifice of martyrdom; but we are all bound to make our lives a continued sacrifice of ourselves to God, and to perform every action in this perfect spirit of sacrifice. Thus we shall both live and die to God, perfectly resigned to His holy will in all His appointments.”
Vitalis of Milan in The Lives of the Saints by Alan Butler, 1894 (Global Grey edition, 2019) 28 April reading.
Yesterday, Michael Cherenkov and a pastor friend baptized 9 new believers in Donetsk, Ukraine. They are pictured in white in the header photo. This illustrates how people are coming to faith in Jesus as Christians serving needy amidst the war.
Should the Russians fully occupy their oblast, some people in this photo could suffer martyrdom. And while this may not happen to you where you live, we need to live with the same spirit and willingness to sacrifice our lives for Jesus Christ.
God called Jenni and I to serve in Lviv, Kyiv, and Kharkiv. And he led Michael and Nina to Donetsk. Where is God leading you? What might it look like to abandon the pattern of this world “to test and approve what God’s will is” for you?
Once we determine God’s will, the key to fulfilling our calling is to be “perfectly resigned” to it regardless of the circumstances, even to the point of loss of life. Our generosity comes into view as living out His calling for each of us.
You can do this in view of God’s mercy. Imagine your destiny was death, and He gave you new life and invited you to live it for Him. Many would agree that it’s the only way to live. Ironically, it’s also the only way to die.