Let’s imagine a child raised by parents who jump to its every need. Whenever it wants something, they dish it up. Whenever it throws a tantrum, they placate it by dancing to its tune. What sort of adult, do you think, will that child grow into?

One of the things that turns many a person off from Christianity is the notion that having accepted God’s love and forgiveness through Jesus (great!), they’re now supposed to obey Him. Obey?! Really? I don’t think so! It all smacks of a rigid 1950s religiosity, and nobody wants to go back to that nonsense.

Yet, writes the Apostle Paul to the church in Rome:

Romans 12:1 So I beg you, brothers and sisters, because of the great mercy God has shown us, offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him—an offering that is only for God and pleasing to him. Considering what he has done, it is only right that you should worship him in this way 

Many a person who wants to experience the love, the joy, the power of God in their lives – His manifest Presence, the infilling of the Holy Spirit – will at the same time reject the notion of becoming a living sacrifice in obedience to the God who sent His Son, Jesus, to save them.

Nineteenth-century evangelist Maria Woodworth-Etter once put it like this: “I asked for more of the Holy Spirit, and He asked for more of me.”

The Spirit-filled life starts with obedience. Yes, it’s a sacrifice, but make no mistake, it’s where your abundant life in Christ begins.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.