A living sacrifice - Romans 12-13

 Read Romans 12 -13

Verse chosen for devotion - Romans 12:1

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

We have heard of animals that were killed and sacrificed to atone for sins but how about living sacrifice? How do we sacrifice ourselves and continue living?

And how is offering ourselves a form of worship?

Relate

We have heard about offering ourselves as living sacrifice in Sunday prayers, worship songs, and in bible verses. But what does that really mean? In our daily lives we sacrifice something for someone or something we love, be it time, money or even opportunities. We have also heard about parents donating their organs to their sick children out of love. I remember in my early days of courtship I would travel from East to West for more than an hour by MRT just to see my girlfriend (now my wife) for a short 10 minutes. It might not appear practical to do such things but we will sacrifice time and effort to do something for someone we dearly love. As parents we would also sacrifice many things for our children. Some others make sacrifices to succeed in their career, to buy that first car, or first house. Every decision we make involves a sacrifice (i.e. we take one option we forgo the other). So in fact we are making sacrifices everyday, whether consciously or not. But out of all these sacrifices how many of them are for God? When God sent His son to die for our sins He sacrificed His Son Jesus in our place.

A living sacrifice requires us to sacrifice, surrender ourselves and live according to God’s purpose in each and every day of our lives. It is not just one off or weekly sacrifice. We attend church service once a week, and offer our sacrifice (our time, our offering, our commitment). But is that enough? We do occasional quiet time or help to serve in church. Is that enough?

When we come to seek God for help or ask Him for protection, do we expect Him to only hear us once a week or occasionally? We expect Him to be there all the time, 24 x 7, each and every time when we need Him. In relationship it has to be mutual and not one way.

Therefore we would be expected to live our daily lives making that sacrifices, big or small, in a way pleasing to God. We help people in need every time when we see one (we sacrifice our self centeredness). We do quiet time not only when we have the time to spare (we sacrifice our time for other pleasure). We serve God not out of convenience (we sacrifice our other priorities). The painful reality is that we are living in the world that is full of conflicting priorities. Our career, our families, our enjoyment and pleasures are competing fiercely for the limited time we have. Would we sacrifice our family time to attend an outreach event? Would we forgo our vacation for a mission trip? So it is a question of what we want versus what God wants for us.

We are urged by Paul to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. Holiness requires us to be set apart for God, for His purpose. So everything we do is a form of worship and it exemplifies how we are set apart for Him. We do not conform to the standards of this world for we belong to Him. So the next time before we say or do something perhaps we should first ask ourselves whether our speech or action glorifies God. Be it about saying something to our colleague, doing something to a stranger or making a major decision in our lives.

Therefore let this passage be a constant reminder to myself that in view of God’s mercy (to escape His wrath for my sins) I want to respond by making daily sacrificial choices. It can be small decisions of taking time off from my leisure to help the poor and needy, be kind with my word and forgo my pride, stop complaining and be grateful, making some hard choices to give more to God financially…not that God needs all that but this is in response to His grace and mercy I would like to live my life daily to glorify Him as a form of true worship.

Rest

1. “I love the Christ, the Son of God,
   Who died that I might live;
   I would my gratitude express,
   A gift unto Him give.
   • My gift is small, it is my all,
     Accept it, Lord, I pray;
     Let self be slain, let Jesus reign
     Within my heart alway.
2. I fail to find a sacrifice,
   Or fitting gift to bring;
   Earth’s treasures have too little worth
   To offer to my King.
3. No gift, however grand or great,
   Could pay the debt I owe;
   I bring myself, my life, my all,
   A living gift bestow.
4. My members all I gladly yield
   For service, Lord, to Thee;
   To bear the blessed gospel light,
   That others Christ may see.”
5. A living sacrifice lyrics