Speaker: Ben Sigman

Theme: Pleasing Everyone

Weekend Music links on iTunes: All Over the World by Matt Redman; Hosanna by Paul Baloche; You'll Come by Hillsong; Rescue by Desperation Band; None but Jesus by Brooke Fraser.

Read: Romans 12:1-2

Think:  One winter, we decided to give our kitchen a makeover. We refaced the cabinet doors, replaced the countertops with decorative tile, painted the walls, and replaced the appliances. When our friends came over, they were astonished by the transformation. They couldn’t believe it was the same kitchen. It was the same kitchen in the same house, just renovated and updated.

I am that kitchen. The renovation process seems to be coming a little slower than I expected, though. You know how we all can get when we are waiting for a project to be finished and the contractor asks for more time. Well the Carpenter in my case is taking His sweet time too. He’s leaving nothing out, taking no short cuts, and smoothing out the rough spots- so many rough spots.

Romans 12:2 talks about “being transformed” and getting “new thinking.” It talks about offering the guts of who we are as an offering to Christ, and in exchange He will transform us and give us new thinking. Appliances to a kitchen are what thinking is to a brain. The new appliances in our kitchen were so smart- they used less energy, held more food, cooked things more thoroughly, and looked better too. When God transforms us, we get new appliances and we work more efficiently and joyfully. We can hold more blessing and we look better too (ok, I’m not exactly sure about looking better, except that a joyful face does look a lot better than a sour one).

Romans 12:2 also says, “Your offering must be only for God and pleasing to him.” We don’t want to offer our kitchen over to any old person with a hammer and a promise. We want the Best there is to renovate our kitchen. Jesus is the best person for the job, because he cares about the finished product- He gets to live there after all.

Do: Write down one thing that you would like surrender to God for transformation. Then write down how your thinking needs to change in order for that transformation to happen.

Pray: Jesus, help me to offer myself to you as a living sacrifice. Help me to surrender to you the things that need smoothing out and total renovation. Show me when I am offering myself to things that will only mess me up, and help me to turn from those things. You are the Master Carpenter and I want you to transform me into what I was always destined for.

The eDevotional is written each week by a team of volunteers from Timberlake Church.

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