January 31, 2007

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Romans 12:1

Most scholars believe that when we come to chapter 12 of Romans we see Paul moving from making his case to practical application. Paul appeals to every Christian, that in light of the mercies of God that we have experienced, we are to present our bodies as sacrifices.

Paul uses three adjectives to describe the type of sacrifice that we are to make. It should be living, holy, and acceptable.

When we look at the Old Testament sacrificial system we see that God requires the priests to make sacrifices on behalf of the people. The priest would follow diligently the explicit commands given by God pertaining to the sacrifices that would be offered for the forgiveness of their sins. And we know from Scripture that there can be no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of innocent blood.

But as we move forward to the New Testament and the life of Christ, we see that Christ once and for all paid the price for sin. He shed His innocent blood on our behalf in order that, by faith, we might have a relationship with Him.

Because of that we are to offer our bodies as “living” sacrifices. We are to come to Him and lay all of who we are at His feet acknowledging that we want His will for our lives. A beautiful picture of this is Abraham in Genesis 22. Take a few minutes to read this passage.

Would you be willing to be obedient just like Abraham? Would you be willing to follow Christ no matter the cost? Like Abraham, do you have faith that God is going to fulfill His promises to you however He sees fit?

When we lay our lives down and allow Christ to work in and through we can rest assured that God WILL be glorified in our lives. Will you commit to being a “living” sacrifice?