I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.—Romans 12:1-2
Have you ever watched God do something that was so completely and obviously out of any one’s control, that He in His kindness, alone can get credit for?
In November 2014, God graciously gave me an opportunity to donate one of my kidneys to my brother-in-law, Travis. Travis is married to my husband’s sister, so we are not related by blood. This makes me being compatible truly amazing because it is said the odds are 1 out of 100,000 people that are not related, are a match. To get the full picture of this, I imagine a large sports arena like the AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas which seats 80,000. Add 20,000 more people, stick me in the middle and, wow. Kidney matching is no small thing.
Yet, God, our Great Creator, knew when He knitted Travis in his mother’s womb, and me in mine, that this day would come. His wise, sovereign hand had been working all along, bringing us together for His glory.
Throughout the detailed testing process of becoming a living donor and seeing if my kidney was compatible with Travis’s, God kept me in perfect peace as I kept my mind “stayed on” Him, looking expectantly at what He would do and trusting Him with the outcome (Isaiah 26:3-4).
People would often ask me if I was nervous about giving one of my organs away, and in those moments the Holy Spirit would bring previously memorized Scripture to mind reminding me that God knows the number of our days, when as yet there are none of them (Psalm 139:16) and I do not need to be afraid.
During my recovery when the days seemed long and I wasn’t feeling the best, renewing my mind with God’s Word helped me fight discouragement. Travis and I would encourage each other with truth and marvel at God’s amazing works. And just as God can renew our bodies by whatever means He chooses, His Word renews our minds, giving us fresh glimpses of His faithfulness and grace.
The world tries to convince us that we should live for ourselves in the here and now, but as God gives us eyes to see Him, we begin to understand that the most sacrificial offering of all time was given by God Himself in Jesus Christ… and that leads us to worship.
There are some things that you just can’t keep to yourself. This is one of them. Psalm 105:1-2, “Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.”
May He be praised.
For Reflection
What kind of decisions are you called to sacrifice according to God’s will?
Are there areas of your life that have been subtly shaped or conformed to the world’s way of thinking?
Are you renewing your mind with the Word of God, praying, meditating on, and memorizing to help you now?