Week 40—Saturday Psalm 92:12-15
Psalm 92:12-15
THE BODY IS HOLY IF WHOLLY GOD’S
Paul goes on in his passage and says that his presenting of the body is not only “spiritual worship,” but it is “holy and acceptable.” This word “holy” strikes at the whole Greek idea that the body is “impure,” only the spirit is “pure.” This says the body offered to God is “holy.” For what the holy God has is “holy.” There is no such thing as a “holy place,” or a “holy shrine,” things in themselves are not holy. It is whether God’s holy possession and purpose run through it. If a selfish, secular purpose runs through it, it is unholy, whatever its label.
This offering of the body is “acceptable to God.” Does that mean that if the body is not included, if it is only “spiritual,” it is not “acceptable”? It would seem so. Then if the Word doesn’t become flesh, it is an unacceptable word to God. That would cancel out a lot of our so-called “services” as unacceptable, for there is no intention or attempt to make the Word preached to become flesh in the individual or the group.
An Indian friend quoted the verse, “God has made of one blood all nations,” and an American arose and said, “I believe in the whole Bible except that verse.” In many churches if a black person were brought into a World Brotherhood Service, it would break up the service. The Word become word.
“That you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2). This gives the only way to prove what is the will of God—put it under life, the total life, physical, spiritual, mental, and then you can find out the will of God for it will prove itself to you. When you present the total person to God then God can be proved totally to you. But if you present a portion of yourself—the spiritual—the verification will be as hazy as the presentation.
When there is a total presentation then you will find that the will of God is “good,” so “good” that it is “acceptable,” and so acceptable that it is “perfect.” For the will of God totally fits the total person when it is totally presented. You “prove” that, not by logic, but by life. The Word becomes flesh.
O Blessed Father, we thank you for your blessed will. Your will is our highest interest always and everywhere. When we find your will we find our own—our own deepest will. May your will be “acceptable” to me in everything. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: God’s will is first “good,” then “acceptable,” then “perfect.” My will starts out “perfect,” then “unacceptable,” and then “not good.”