My Life is a Thank You

Have you ever been overwhelmed by God's goodness? Recently I was at a ministry conference and was so overcome with God's love and His glory that all I could do was say, "Thank you, Jesus" over and over again.  And as I said it, the words seemed so inadequate to express my gratitude.  "Thank you" just isn't enough to say how I feel about Him and all He has done for me.

As I struggled with the limitations of my words to show my love for my Savior, I heard in my heart, "Your life is a thank you."  That statement went off in my spirit like fireworks.

It sounds basic, right?  After all, we know that when we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord that we are giving our lives to Him.  But there's something so personal and so intensely intimate about giving ourselves to Him in our daily lives as an act of thanksgiving and worship.

Romans 12:1 (NKJV) says:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

That sounds like a nice sentiment, doesn't it?  However, the KJV and NKJV just do not do this verse justice.  To really get to the heart of it, lets look at it in a few other translations/versions.

In The Amplified Bible Classic Edition (AMPC):

I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.

Here it is in the Expanded Bible (EXB):

·So [Therefore] brothers and sisters, since God has shown us great mercy, I ·beg [urge; appeal to] you to offer your ·lives [selves; bodies] as a living sacrifice to him. Your offering must be ·only for God [holy] and pleasing to him, which is the ·spiritual [or authentic; true; or appropriate; fitting; or rational; reasonable] way for you to worship.

The Voice (VOICE):

Brothers and sisters, in light of all I have shared with you about God’s mercies, I urge you to offer your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice to God, a sacred offering that brings Him pleasure; this is your reasonable, essential worship.

The Worldwide English (WE):

God has been kind to you. So I ask you, brothers, give your bodies to him like a living sacrifice. That is, a holy sacrifice. It will please God. And it is what you should do for him.

Here it is in The Passion Translation (TPT):

Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? I encourage you to surrender yourselves to God to be his sacred, living sacrifices. And live in holiness, experiencing all that delights his heart. For this becomes your genuine expression of worship.

And finally, The Message (MSG) says: 

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.

In looking at these, we get a clearer picture of what the Apostle Paul was saying to the Christians in Rome- and to us.  Since God has been so merciful, kind and gracious the only sufficient way to respond is to worship Him with our lives, presenting our bodies and all we are in gratitude and thanksgiving- daily.  I especially like the wording in the Message: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. 

I would encourage you to reread the different versions of this scripture I have shared above. Look up some of your own.  Meditate on them.  Let this Word get in your heart, and ask the Holy Spirit to show you the practical ways you can walk this verse out everyday.  There is nothing we can give Him that comes close to being an adequate thank you other than our very lives.  And that's what He really wants any way.