A Living Sacrifice

Romans 12:1, "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."

After weeks without a computer, I'm able to blog again, and this verse has been speaking rather loudly to me. I've come to the conclusion that if the church is to begin again to live as Christ intended us too, we must begin practicing what Paul preaches here. So let's take a closer look:

Paul uses the word beseech here. It means to exhort or counsel, but can also mean to beg. I find it ironic that even in Paul's day preachers were having to beg God's people to live as God tells us too. Paul beseeches, he begs us, by the mercies of God. What are the mercies of God? Well Paul lays these out in the first 11 chapters of Romans. They include God's love, as demonstrated through the gift of His Son and His death on the cross while we were yet sinners(Rom 5:8). God's grace is clearly part of His mercies(Rom 5:15) as is His imputed righteousness(Rom 5:17).

Basically, what Paul is telling us is, look: I should not have to beg you but I will, and I implore you by citing all that God has done for you, the sacrifice that He has made for you, the mercy He has bestowed on you, to listen to what I have to say. You can never repay God for all He has done for you, but God does have expectations of you, so listen.

Paul says our entire body; heart, mind, soul, arms, legs, mouths, ears, all of it. Every part of our being should be presented to God as a living sacrifice; an ongoing, continual, giving of everything you have freely given to God. When we see the word sacrifice, we think of the giving of a life, as in the ceremonial sacrifices of animals in the Old Testament for the forgiveness of sin. Paul says we should view ourselves as that sacrificial lamb, willing to surrender every part of our lives, to our Lord and Savior. Paul did this, read 2 Corinthians 11:22-33.

Jesus said the same thing when He spoke of the cost of discipleship, "deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow Me." When the bible speaks of being "crucified with Christ" and "dying to Christ," it speaks of a living sacrifice. This is the path to being holy, and acceptable to God.

Can we be holy? Well, the bible says "Be holy, for I am holy." It is a command of God. But none of us are capable of perfect holy living. So we must understand we are made holy through faith in Jesus Christ. Through His blood and His sacrifice His holiness is imputed(credited to our account) to us and we are seen as holy by the Father when we are in the Son. But that does not exempt us from living holy lives. This is where living our lives as a living sacrifice comes in.

And we need to understand, as Paul says, this is our reasonable service, our reasonable act of worship. This is not exceptional, but expected, and should describe the lives of the everyday, average Christian. Remember the words of Jesus: Anyone who is not willing to "deny" themselves, "pick up their cross and follow Him," is not "worthy" to be His "disciple."

Does this type of sacrificial life describe you? I must admit as this verse has permeated my soul, I have found myself falling short of this standard. I am not as holy as I should be. So my reasonable act of service is to become holier. As we look at the state of Christianity and the church, while we know we may fall short, can we all surrender to Him more fully and resolve to become holier every day? If we can, there is hope still for Christ's body impacting this wicked, lost world. If we cannot...hell will become more full everyday. The choice is ours.