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.

Romans 12:1

For the past three years I’ve been the director of our church’s children’s choir. Our children’s Easter and Christmas programs are open to kiddos ages 4 through 12, which is a broad age range to work with in performance ministry, but by the grace of God and the support of several amazing Sisters and Brothers in Christ, we make it work.

A member of the adult choir and praise team vocalist myself, when I took on the position of directing our young ones, I set a clear expectation that we would have Bible time at the beginning of every practice to remind us Who we were singing too, Whose scripture we were reciting, and Whose message we were sharing. This was new to some of our kids and hard for some of the wiggly ones to sit through and engage with, but to me, a performance ministry without the ministry part – is just performance.

In light of Romans 12:1, it’s my reasonable service to set aside practice time to share God’s message with our kiddos and it’s their reasonable service to share God’s message with our congregation and guests on the night of their presentation. Lately, I’ve added more intentionality to sharing what “reasonable service” means with our kiddos in terms that they can apply to their lives.

For example, in a practice earlier this month, we looked at Hebrews 13:15:

“Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”

We discussed what the “fruit of our lips” could be and how a sacrifice of praise was also our reasonable service. We explored how hard it is to sit still during Bible time and to follow all of the directions for singing and choreography and speaking during practice. An hour-and-a-half is a long time to put aside what we might prefer to be doing (talking to our friends, playing tag in the practice area, making silly motions instead of the song motions), but our reasonable service is to give God a sacrifice of praise and thank His name through our songs and to offer our bodies as a sacrifice by focusing on our presentation instead of on activities that we may think are more fun.

Now, that’s a hard concept for some 4 through 12 year-olds to embrace.

And sweet friend, isn’t that a hard concept for some of us who are older than 12 to embrace?

I know this 40-something year-old still has trouble with it.

Even as adults, sometimes we just want to do what we want to do. We want what we want, when we want, and how we want, and giving ourselves, our wants, our timetable, to God as our reasonable service isn’t always easy.

But beloved, it is always best.

Paul goes on in his letter to the Romans to say this in Romans 12:2:

“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.”

Why is it best to give ourselves as a sacrifice to God, to fulfill our reasonable service?

Because this is how we prove that God’s will is good and pleasing and perfect. By sacrificing our will for God’s, our reasonable service to do, we show those around us God’s goodness as His will is fulfilled in our lives. And because God’s will is to prosper and not harm us, to give us hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11), to strengthen us and help us and lift us up (Isaiah 41:10), fulfilling our reasonable service brings God glory, tells others of His goodness, and is for our greatest benefit too.

Dear heart, it’s time to stop baulking at God’s will and embrace it as our reasonable service. It’s time to look at each hour of our day and say, not my will, God, but Yours.

Praise God, once we commit to it, God will see that we are able to do it (Hebrews 13:20-21).

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