Listooder Youth Fellowship

In our final meeting of 2013, Trevor Matthews drew attention to the word 'present' in the opening verse of Romans 12. At this time of the year, gifts and presents are given as a token of love, and we also rejoice in the greatest gift that ever was given, when the Lord Jesus Christ came from His home in heaven to die for us on earth. In this first verse, and the proceeding verses, the Apostle Paul pleads with his fellow believers, and us as modern-day Christians, to 'present', to offer as a gift, our own lives and bodies to the Lord. Paul had explained the mercies of God in previous chapters of the book, and now he refers to these mercies as the reason why we are able to give ourselves over to Him. The mercy of God, which justifies a believer and sets them free from the power of sin, gives every child of God the strength and the desire to hand our lives over to Him. 'By the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies...'. And by the mercy of God, it is His right to expect that we give our lives to Him.  The Lo