June 5 – Living Sacrifice

        Romans 12:1 – "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in light of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your reasonable act of worship."

        This is a verse that is heard quite often from the lips of preachers – and rightly so. It is obviously a good reminder verse – a reminder for prompting daily behavior and attitude. There is so much packed into this verse; it hearkens back to the Jewish sacrificial system found throughout the entire Old Testament. Now, however, instead of animals, humans become the sacrifice to God, but not through death. Rather, we are told to be an oxymoron, a living death offering to God, that is to be consumed by the flames upon his altar. After all, a sacrifice was to be either fully consumed by the fire, or its meat was to be eaten by the priests, and the rest consumed by the fire. Thus, two things resulted: the physical sustenance of the priests, and a pleasing aroma to God's nostrils. The first was literal; the second was mystical.

        One thought that comes to mind regarding this verse is to avoid sexual immorality. When we are born again, submitting our lives to God, we need to turn away from our sinful lifestyles, and start obeying God's commands. This agrees with instructions in I Corinthians 6:18-20: "Run away from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body." Under the Old Testament, if a person had to travel a long way to Jerusalem in order to sacrifice, he did not have to bring his own sacrifice; he could buy it there. Likewise, God has bought us humans with the blood of Jesus.

        Another thought regarding this verse is that, by a constant offering of our lives, this act of worship is our reasonable service. The Greek word for reasonable is "logikos", from which we get the English word logical. The apostle Paul is stating that our constant offering of ourselves to God is a normal, rational part of living in the Spirit. It is not just done on special occasions; this dying to ourselves is to be done constantly, just like living/breathing is done constantly. There is one problem, however. Dead sacrifices did not move; living sacrifices seem to want to squirm off the altar. We fight against the sinful nature, and do not want to die to our selfish desires. As the verse states, however, our dying to, and offering of, ourselves, is what pleases God. That is the goal for our lives – children living to please their good and faithful Father.

        God, grant us your power by the Spirit, to die to ourselves, and to live every day with a desire to please you, by our actions, words, attitudes, and service to others.