Category: Purpose

3 Essential Spiritual Goals for Lasting Growth

At the start of a new year, many people create goals they hope to achieve by year’s end. But let’s be honest—by now, many of those goals have already been forgotten or abandoned. While there’s plenty to say about the value of goal-setting and the reasons we fall short, I want to shift the focus to something more eternal: your spiritual goals.

Spiritual Goals Aren’t Measured by the Calendar

Unlike career or fitness goals, spiritual growth isn’t defined by how much you accomplish in a year. The real measure is how you’ve lived when your life is complete. As Christians, our ultimate goal is eternity with Christ. That means our focus should be less on ticking boxes each year and more on whether our daily decisions are sowing into eternal life.

Recently, I’ve been reflecting deeply on what it truly means to have godly ambition. I’ve realised that the vision I carry can’t be limited to a 12-month framework. I want to tell the world—literally the entire world—about Jesus. I long to lead millions into salvation, to create resources that nurture a vibrant walk with Christ, and to inspire men, women, and children by the way I live and love. If that’s truly my goal, then I need to examine how I live today.

God has been showing me areas where I’m not aligned with the level of discipline and devotion required for that kind of impact. The truth is, my current pace of life—comfortable and familiar—won’t produce the fruit I long to see. Real spiritual transformation requires intentional sacrifice and radical prioritisation.

In all of this, one scripture keeps echoing in my heart: John 15. I’ve read it many times, but I now realise I’ve missed the point. “Apart from Me, you can do nothing.” That’s Jesus speaking. And if He’s right—and He is—then I must prioritise time with Him, hearing His voice, and living in obedience. These are the three pillars that sustain any meaningful spiritual journey.

1. Listen to His Voice

In a world flooded with opinions, ideologies, and noise, hearing God’s voice is not just helpful—it’s essential. I love the dynamic between Jesus and His mother Mary. She was wise and full of faith, yet still very human. After searching anxiously for a 12-year-old Jesus, she finally finds Him in the temple. His response? “Didn’t you know I had to be in My Father’s house?”

Even those closest to us—our mentors, parents, or friends—may not always understand or affirm God’s call on our lives. That’s why we must learn to hear from God personally. Yes, He speaks through spiritual leaders and those in authority, but their voices should never replace the voice of the Holy Spirit in your own life.

Think about it: how will you discern divine direction from distraction if you can’t recognise God’s voice? The internet, schools, workplaces, and even entertainment constantly promote their own values. These voices aren’t always malicious, but they often reflect agendas that aren’t aligned with your God-given purpose. What we listen to shapes our mind, emotions, and ultimately, our spiritual destiny. Guard your ear gates and tune your spirit to God’s frequency.

2. Prioritise Time with God

There’s a popular saying: quality time over quantity of time. But when it comes to building a relationship with God, quantity often leads to quality. It’s hard to develop intimacy with God on leftover minutes and rushed prayers squeezed between errands. There’s no one-size-fits-all rule for when to spend time with God, but there is something powerful about setting aside focused, uninterrupted time each day. When we prioritise our quiet time with God, we give Him space to speak, correct, encourage, and lead.

Ask Him to guide you. Ask Him to stir a hunger in your heart. And as you commit to carving out that sacred time, you’ll find that quality begins to blossom in the midst of quantity.

3. Practice Obedience

Hearing God’s voice is one thing. Obeying it is another. Yet the fruit of a Spirit-filled life is found in doing what God has said—not just hearing it.
Isaiah 1:18-19 offers us an invitation: “Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord. “If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land.” God’s instructions are not burdens—they’re blueprints for abundant living. He’s not trying to restrict us; He’s guiding us toward our best and most fulfilling future.

Still, obedience often feels unnatural. We’re used to living life a certain way. Change is uncomfortable. But here’s the good news: when we say yes to God—even while trembling—He supplies the grace and courage we lack. Don’t wait until obedience feels easy. Ask God for help, and declare, “Lord, Your Word is important to me. Strengthen me to follow through.”

The Bottom Line

There are countless tools, strategies, and spiritual disciplines we’ll explore in future posts. But before anything else, God desires your ears, your heart, and your time.

Make space daily to hear His voice. Choose to obey, even when it’s hard. Spend time in His presence—not as a task, but as a lifeline. If you can commit to these three spiritual priorities, everything else will fall into place. And you’ll find yourself not just setting goals—but actually growing into the person God created you to be.

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4 Ways to Tell if you are on the Wrong Path

At times it can be difficult to discern the difference between two paths that both seem right, and even more difficult to identify which one God is leading us to pursue. We can distinguish between the many paths that lay before us if we firstly believe that there is a right way and a wrong way in life. Yes, God does work everything out together for the good of those who love him, but this promise is based on the premise that you firstly whole heartedly love the Lord and that you are walking according to his purpose. God has a destination for each of us and he requires us to walk in accordance to his purpose. We are only human and we will sometimes take the wrong turn or experience accidents that may not even be our fault on the path of destiny. God promises that he will get us to our destiny regardless of these incidents. However, if we deliberately take wrong turns we are telling God that we don’t want his help or guidance and are choosing to walk in our own way. If you do believe that God’s way is the best way and are fully committed to following the path of Jesus, then here are 5 things that you can look out for in your journey, that serve as indicators that God is telling you, you have taken the wrong turn.

1. God is warning you that you may be on the wrong path if everyone close to you is contradicting your decision.
God may be asking you to reconsider the choices in your life, if the most trusted people around you are telling you that the choices you are taking are wrong. Of course people can be wrong and can have hidden motives, but a general rule of thumb for you to live by is that if everyone around you is complaining about the same thing you should definitely consider that what they are saying may be right. This is especially true if these people have your best interest at heart, know you well enough and may also have more life experience than you.

The bible teaches us in 1 Corinthians 13:1 that “every matter must be established by the testimony of two or more witnesses”. In this scripture, Paul was writing to the Corinthian church and reminding them what was written in the law of Moses. He was quoting Deuteronomy, where it says that in order for a statement to be taken as truth in a serious matter it must be corroborated by at least two other witnesses. So, in other words the bible is telling us to be careful about the conclusions and judgments we make about any statements of fact.

An example of this would be when Samson’s parents tried to discourage him from marrying the Philistine woman he met in Timnah. Samson had every reason to listen to his parents, but he refused and eventually got his heart broken. His reason for pursuing this ungodly relationship was that “She looked good to him” (Judges 14:3, NLT)

2. God will show you that you are on the wrong path by allowing a significant disappointment to take place.
When God can’t get us to go about things in the right way he will often let us walk in the path we chose, but allow it to end in disappointment, in order to give us the opportunity to get back on the right path. This is exactly what happened to Samson.

The Bible tells us that,

“His father and mother didn’t realize the Lord was at work in this, creating an opportunity to work against the Philistines, who ruled over Israel at that time.”

God was still, able to makes things work out in accordance with his divine plan for the people of Israel, even though Samson had his own personal agenda. Eventually, this ended in disappointment, as Samson’s wife, betrayed his trust and was given away in marriage to Samson’s best man. Rather than trusting the good interest of his parents, who had spiritual insight into the direction of his life and destiny, he trusted his feelings and his friends and ended up in disappointment. The important thing to note here is that God was in the background orchestrating and creating an opportunity that was not just for his glory, but also ended up realigning Samson with God.

3. God maybe telling you that you are on the wrong path, if people are taking advantage of your weakness.
The Philistines frequently tried to turn on Samson by finding out what his weaknesses were and exploiting them. Samson clearly had a weaknesses for pretty Philistine women and because of this the Philistines always used beautiful women to entrap him. The enemy will always try to take advantage of our weaknesses by tempting us in that area. God on the other hand will not tempt us, but will create a way of escape for us in the midst of our temptations. For Samson it was always having the spirit of God come upon him to help him breaking out of the ropes that were used to bind him.

But the men of Judah told him, “We have come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.”
“All right,” Samson said. “But promise that you won’t kill me yourselves.”
“We will only tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines,” they replied. “We won’t kill you.” So they tied him up with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.
As Samson arrived at Lehi, the Philistines came shouting in triumph. But the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon Samson, and he snapped the ropes on his arms as if they were burnt strands of flax, and they fell from his wrists. 
Then he found the jawbone of a recently killed donkey. He picked it up and killed 1,000 Philistines with it. 

Samson was now very thirsty, and he cried out to the Lord, “You have accomplished this great victory by the strength of your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of these pagans?” 
So God caused water to gush out of a hollow in the ground at Lehi, and Samson was revived as he drank. Then he named that place “The Spring of the One Who Cried Out,” and it is still in Lehi to this day. (Judges 15: 12-15, 18-19)

The passage above shows that God will keep providing a way out for us even in the most difficult situations in order for us to fulfil our purpose and enjoy his goodness.

4. God will warn us of wrong choices, by allowing us to lose some battles, in order for us to win the war.
Samson eventually ended up getting captured, because God left him. God had given Samson many prior warning signs and chances to repent and commit to the lifestyle that would enable him to maintain the presence of God in his life. When we continue on a wrong path and ignore the promptings of God to get us back to the right track, God will temporarily leave us and wait for us to come back to him in the place where he wants us to be. God will never force us to go down a certain path, he will only prompt us and orchestrate opportunities that will lead us unto the right path and then wait for us to make our choices. Samson lost, the connection to the source of his strength and also lost his sense of vision (signified by the gouging of his eyes). God knew that the people of Israel would not be able to ultimately win against there enemies if Samson continued to follow his own will and desires. So, God permitted Samson to be captured by the Philistines, until his hair started to grow back. Although he lost many things that were irreplaceable and did not fully regain his strength, with the little strength he did have he was able to fulfil his purpose.

God wants us to do more than win battles and overthrow our enemies. Yes, he wants us to achieve great things, but he wants us to also have a good life, too. By all accounts I don’t believe that Samson lived a very good life. He experienced a lot of heart ache, betrayal and ended up having his eyes brutally plucked out. I don’t think that this was what God had in mind for him when the prophecy about his destiny was given. There was definitely the better path that he could have taken, which may have seemed difficult, restrictive and perhaps counter culture, but in the end would have been a lot easier and enjoyable compared to what he went through.

Scripture for you meditation:

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. (3 John 2: 2, NKJV)

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Reflecting at Christmas

This is by far the busiest times of the year and it’s not because of all the shopping. Actually, according to Shopify, November is the busiest commercial month of the year. I think it’s all the end of year rush, last-minute work targets and personal goals we want to achieve all between now and the 31st 23:59 which gets us all worked up. And on top of all that we want to enjoy the festivities and rest. We will soon discover that we cannot rest if we don’t eliminate the stressors in our way. At this time though I would say that one of the most important and beneficial things you can do for yourself is to spend time in reflection. When I’m reflecting or journaling it is in these moments when I’m most aware of what God has been teaching me through the day or the year. We need to intentionally create moments where we have epiphanies based on what is happening. Significant changes do not happen with the turn of a calendar it happens when we allow our minds to receive and engage with what is happening in our environments. We are praying for God to change our stories in the new year or decade, but we must ask ourselves what God has been engraving on the tables of our hearts over the last year or even decade that we haven’t paid attention to.

Beyond the feelings and the goosebumps, we might get when we encounter God, there are notable changes that take place in less spectacular ways inside of us. Being a lot more reflective, has help me understand that I ought to look for the mundane. Looking for God in the silence and seemingly insignificant is how Elijah got his life back as he stood on the mountain of God at the brink of depression.

I’m thinking about my life and things I want to focus on improving and things that I should keep and be more consistent with. Reflectively, I can say that I have grown over the last year. One of the key areas I have experienced growth and change in is how I think about giving and receiving love. It’s important to regularly reflect on how we relate with people and things.

Earlier in the year I had a conversation with someone that helped bring the thought process to mind and I can say that on reflecting on my understanding of extending love and hearing what the other person had to say, I found myself thinking that maybe I didn’t quite have a full understanding of what love – the God kind of Love – is. Maybe my limited understanding of how vast God’s love is keeping me from receiving all the wonderful gifts of God’s awesome love. I’ve begun thinking of love in a different way which has led to changes in how I practice love. Nothing drastic or dramatic, but significant enough for me to desire and chase after more of God’s kind of love in my heart. It is the kind of love that chases you and woos you regardless of how you are or what you’ve done. That love, loves you just because and nothing you could do could make it grow or diminish. Can I be that way towards myself and the people in my life? Can I be more loving regardless of what if?

At this point, I can say that any work that you catch me doing is related to reflecting and checking that the plans I make for the coming year are in line with the work that He has already begun in me. After all, what good is a perfect gift if I don’t take out the time to enjoy and use it?

Christmas blessings!

What do I do when one assignment comes to an end?

A couple of months ago I wrote about embracing your call and understanding that an assignment from God, be it staying at home to raise your children or working on a job that is not quite your definition of a ‘dream job’, is the call that he has for you. Wherever God has placed you is where he wants you to be and that is your calling.

But where do we go and what do we do when an assignment ends?

It can be really disconcerting when your routine is interrupted by a change in affairs. It could be that you have been made redundant at work or you have recently graduated and are looking to get into work. Or perhaps your children are grown and have moved out. No matter what your stage in life is, change can be uncomfortable and requires you to adjust your position. If you have been focused on a particular assignment for a long time it can be a lot more shocking and strange to suddenly be doing something else.

God moves us from one assignment to the next in order to keep us from becoming stale. Sometimes it is because we have outgrown our previous position. Embedded in every assignment are learning curves and challenges that are designed to stretch us. We don’t always feel the stretching. We don’t always feel growth pains, but it doesn’t always mean that we are not growing.
There are a host of reasons why God would want to move us to the next assignment. Whatever the reason, just know that it is to bless and increase you and not to subtract from you.

The commandment of God to humanity at the very beginning was for us to “be fruitful and multiply”, to “subdue the earth” and to “have dominion”. That commandment is still true today. It is not the purpose of God for our lives to be stuck in one spot. He desires that we spread and become masters over things. With this in mind we can start to understand what we should be doing when one assignment ends.

1. Give Thanks
Your attitude should be one of thanks giving. 1 Thessalonians 5:16, tells us to “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Just over a week ago I was laid off a job that I had received a few months prior by what I could have only explain to be the intervention and grace of God. I which things had been different, but In my hearts of hearts I am thankful to God for the opportunity to learn, grow and be a blessing. I rejoice because I know where my source really is.
I don’t see it as a cut in my financial supply I see it as a step to doing something new, because God is my provider. Don’t be down cast.

2. Get Closer
The second part of that scripture says, ” pray without ceasing”. We should be praying to God all day, all the time. We can do this by praying in our hearts and rehearsing scriptures as we go through our day. (I will talk more on this in a separate post.) For now though I think that we can all agree that our lives get so busy with work and routine that we don’t put so much emphasis on praying as we should be. When our routines are interrupted we look for new things we can do to keep us busy again. This is the perfect time to get back in touch with God. You have all this free time now to pray more and study the word more. Go on hour long prayer walks or worship walks. Spend time with God. In the process, you will get clearer understanding of his purpose for your life and insight into your next assignment.

It’s so powerful how God created a part of the earth each day in Genesis 1 and then paused after each day to look at what he had done and then said that it was good. God modelled the nature of putting our work and aims under review before moving on to the next thing. It’s the principle of watching and praying. If you don’t keep your eyes and mind open you will miss the instructions God has for you. I have find that God has spoken to me more about what he wants me to do and the direction to take when I was preparing myself by putting myself through training, reflecting and listening.

I hope you find your feet landing on the path God has set before you. And may you find grace and peace in every season you find yourself in.

3. Prepare
‘Prayer is the master Key! One key for every door.’ This is the truth that we have been feed since first coming to the faith. What we fail to do alongside praying is prepare for what we have prayed for. Have you taken time out to recubirate, rest and skill up for the next assignment. Between each assignment there is a moment, an opportunity for you to clean and sharpen your tools. This moment can be used to reflect on the past. What would you change or do better? Sometimes God puts us on intentional pauses because we haven’t taken out time to give ourselves a break.

Embracing the Call

Humility, Servant-hood and Becoming

Let’s not use our calling as an opportunity to be proud or to carry ourselves with greater importance than we should. When we think about our calling and our assignment we should do so with humility remembering that God called out to us because we were far away. He called us because without his calling we wouldn’t know that we had to step into his plan and purpose. God’s calling was to realign us to our destiny and our perfect place in him, which is first to save our relationship with him and in so doing our salvation. 

A married man might call his wife frequently when they are not together to check on her with the intention to boost their relationship and in doing so is saving their marriage. It would be foolish for the wife to go around boasting that her husband gave her a call. Whilst she is understandably touched and excited when her husband calls, it is totally unnecessary for her to announce his call. 
I think in a similar manner we should cherish and accept the call of God with all humility.

Secondly, a call to fulfil an assignment is a privilege, because if we really look at ourselves we are not worthy. It is God that calls us and makes us worthy, not by our own righteousness or well doing but by his grace. We don’t earn it or work for it, it is just given to us because God is good.

Let us never fall into the trap of thinking that the goodness we experience has anything to do with the fact that we are so good. In fact, I’ll say that we are not always good. We are too selfish to be completely always good. We are still learning to be more like God, which is part of the reason why he gives us assignments.

Assignments are designed to:
Break you, rebuild you, prune you, stretch you, mould you, shape you better you and touch lives through you.

Can you see that the bulk of the work is on you and not through you? That’s because we are not perfect vessels. Why might a parent allow their five year old child to be with them in the kitchen? Surely, they can work faster, more effectively without the distraction of the child.
It is because being in the kitchen, teaches the child how to behave in the kitchen environment encourages them to help out, instils an attitude of care and partnership, develops their interest, teaches them how to cook, keeps them busy, builds a bond between them and the parents and enables the parent to keep an eye on them.
All these things can be likened to how God calls us into his work.

49 And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” Luke 2:49

Jesus knew exactly why he was called and he spent his early years, sitting in the temple, “listening” and “asking questions” (verse 46). It’s not enough to know that you are called and what it is you are called to do but why God has called you. It is a deeper understanding of the why that will keep your head bowed in humility when you reach the hills and will strengthen your arms for the enduring embrace of your call in God.


I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Ephesians 4:1-3

A Higher Calling

I’ve been thinking about my calling lately. 

Actually, it has been at the back of my mind since 2015. I’ve always thought that a ‘calling’ is that one thing I was meant to do because I was either talented or particularly gifted in a certain way. I constantly looked for the talents and strengths I had to anchor me to a particular field or purpose. 
I watch out for my interests and dislikes and personality traits to find what God wanted me to do. 

But in recent times I’ve found that I’m not always completely sure about the path I’m taking. Sometimes it’s because it’s too restrictive and it feels like I can and should be doing more. Other times, I just do not feel the fulfilment in what I am doing and wonder whether I missed it somewhere. I worry that my indicators are off. And at other times I think that how I feel is an example of my unsteadiness and inconsistency a flaw in my character that keeps me form working harder and pushing myself to fulfilling my call. 

However, as I have continued to think and pray about it I find that the problem is not my attitude and a possible personal or emotional lack of consistency, it is in my understanding of what it means to be called. 

A calling is not a one time discovery of an assignment. A calling, in truth, is not about you. Instead it is an awareness of the person who is calling you. 

Moses, when he was called by God at the burning bush, was completely shocked and afraid of the responsibility of having to get people out of the land of Egypt. The massive weight of that responsibility coupled with the fear of having to return to a country in which he was a criminal fugitive to face and challenge Pharaoh’s authority, was to big of a challenge for him. 

God knew this. He knew about all Moses’s limitations and weaknesses. He knew that he was not a talented speaker. He knew that he had murder on his criminal record and he knew that he had not lived amongst the people of Israel. 

We often get excited in sermons when we hear about how God used this same Moses who by every standard should have been a good for nothing, was used to accomplish something so mighty. God made something marvellous out of nothing and he is still doing the same today. 

We often forget that our little becomes a lot in the hands of the maker, not because he is seeking to perform wonders but because he is seeking relationships. Let me explain that a little more. 

Moses was not chosen because he was a sorry case and God wanted to show how merciful he is. Or because he had been through so much. Moses and everyone else who has a calling is called for the purpose of relationship. 

Moses was called to join the covenant relationship of his forefathers and his people. He was called because where he was with the Midianites was too far from where he wanted him. He was not spending time in the mountains praying and having face to face conversations with God about the future and destiny of the Children of Israel. This came much later after he had found his calling which was to worship God by being in relationship with him. 

God’s number one aim is to draw us closer. Whatever that does not draw us closer to him is not part of our calling. Our calling is about the one who is calling us (God) and not about the assignment he is calling us for. We can be called to do anything, but the reason behind why we are called is God’s priority. The joy of being called is getting to know God. 

“Many are called but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:14)
That’s because we are all called to a face to face relationship with God through Jesus Christ. But few get chosen to perform wonders because we focus more on the assignment rather than on God.
We can’t part seas without God, we can’t fight Pharaoh’s army without him at our sides. We can only encounter discouragement in our assignment when we focus on the assignment instead of getting the assignment done with him. God gives us these assignment to draw us closer to himself and to bring us back to the place of our purpose.  

Like Moses God’s call to us is to draw us out of obscurity and isolation into love and friendship with him. So, as long as I daily answer the calling, I will find my hands doing exactly what it is I am meant to be doing. Yes, my gifting are indicative but the greatest gift is to be both found and lost in the love of God. 

My sweet Valentine, how Far is too Far?

Love is in the air! It’s thick and almost tangible. All the love songs on the radio tell us to get it on tonight. The retailers encourage us to seize the day and incentivise us with great sales. With the whole world telling us to translate every feeling we feel into action and gratify our pleasure glands with every desire, where do we draw the boundary lines? 

There is that dreaded question that is always asked at every singles seminar or conference, especially when the topic of sex and abstinence comes up. I’m always praying nobody asks, because it gets awkward very quickly amidst all the pre-adolescent euphemisms and the desire of the singles who want explicit and clear boundaries laid when they ask, “how far is too far?”. There is always one person who asks this question. Actually, I wish I could say that this is the single most awkward inquiry made at this sort of events (sadly, it isn’t).

This is the question a single person asks only because they think that they might have taken it too far with someone either physically or emotionally and want to clear their conscience of the guilt that is weighing on them. Of course, I think that it”s important to know where the boundaries are; every Christian single should know the boundaries. We should all live with the consciousness of  always wanting to honour God.
Yet, the question, I think, is far more suggestive than that. It implies a desire to know how much you can get away with without falling into sin. You are living on the edge and will only end up falling of the cliff. God will surely catch us when we fall, but He would rather not have us tempt Him in this way (Luke 4:12).

The problem with this line of inquiry is that rather than submitting our desires under the authority of God and managing these desires and appetites, we want the word of God – our standard for living and the authority – to conform to our earthly/ physical desires. If we can find a scripture that supports how far we want to go then we’ll hold unto that scripture and use it to support our actions. In doing so we run the risk of taking the scriptures out of its intended context. What’s even worse is that we often take the absence of an issue in the bible to mean that it’s okay to do something, when it really isn’t the case. 

A good example of this is the issue of kissing; is an unmarried couple allowed to kiss? Is kissing permissible in a dating relationship? There are those who say ‘yes’ and there are those who emphatically say ‘no’. This is one of those issues where the bible is silent on, but I have heard people misuse Paul’s words by saying, that we should greet each other with a holy kiss, so it is okay for two dating people to kiss [Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:26].  This is obviously a misuse of that verse, as the context had nothing to do with dating or romantic or erotic love. In fact, Paul was encouraging them to uphold their purity, dignity and honour of each other as they love each other in a non-romantic way.  

When it comes to honouring God and seeking first His will for our lives, the question should never be how far is too far. Instead, it should be how much more can I honour God with my actions and behaviour? How much more can I give up? How much more can I honour and respect this person I am in a relationship with? In what more ways can we promote holiness and preserve the sanctity of our physical bodies (the temple of God)?  
This is what God’s word says to this:

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. 
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.                                                                            (Romans 12:1-2)

God wants us to live sacrificially, which means that we will make daily sacrifices concerning our wants and desires, always presenting ourselves as honourable vessels before him. But in verse two, God let’s us know that there is no way we can be holy and acceptable before Him with our bodies, if we do not renew our minds. Our thinking will inform what we do and there is no way on earth, as long as we are alive, that we will ever do anything without our bodies being involved. If I am already thinking how far is too far, it means that I am playing with the ideas of wanting more rather than allowing my mind to be introduced to the ideas of true sacrifice. 

When our minds are renewed by the word of God, that is Christ, our old mind is being exchanged for the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5). The mind of Christ thinks sacrificially how it can give more, rather than thinking how much it can get or what it can get away with. Sacrificial living and thinking means having a mindset that is willing to give up anything at the instance of it being required.

We can celebrate LOVE today because God gave us everything. He went far beyond the limits of what the princes of this world thought he could, just to prove His undying love for us. If there is anything we can learn from the life of Christ then it is this; nothing proves the presence of love more than sacrifice.