A Living Sacrifice

What does it mean to present your body as a living sacrifice, as Paul says in Romans 12:1-2 in a practical sense? That was the question last night at our bible study. The answer to this question is not an easy one to answer. Sure we can come up with some clear answers: don’t watch certain TV shows or movies, go to church, and serve in a ministry. Those are clear objectives that show our obedience to God, which means we are sacrificing our own time and will for His. But if you follow that thought through further, it enters scary territory. To truly live a life that is dead to self and only alive in Christ means we no longer are self-controlled, have no self-determination and no self-will. What that means in practicality is that, whatsoever we do, whether its drink or eat, do it in the name of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 10:31). So that means, God controls where we work, how we work, who we talk to, what we say, who we help, how we help, how we spend our time and money, who we take in our homes to stay with us, where we go…I think I’m starting to get the picture here. Another verse comes to mind Gal. 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” That pretty much sums it up. There has been a coup, well actually an abdication, since I am voluntarily letting God ascend to the throne of my heart. There is no forceful overtaking, no coercing, and no pushing. God wants our agreement, he wants us to want to surrender to him, and he wants us to want him. God is powerful enough to make us human beings do whatever he pleases. But it pleases him to wait for us to make up our minds to want to serve him alone. That’s such an awesome revelation of God’s nature. He is so loving that he sits by patiently and waits for us to come to our senses to finally agree, like I just did, to give up any claim I have on myself, and to give him all control. He sees the whole picture anyway, how obstinate and foolish we are to think we could do a better job running our lives than the one who created us, and the entire universe? The prideful rebellion we show God on a daily basis has to break his heart continually. It breaks my heart now, as I allow myself to be broken so I can be of use to God.

http://www.rbc.org/utmost/index.php?month=08&day=31&year=07