“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.” Romans 12:1
The Apostle Paul starts off chapter 12 by speaking about
Christian conduct. The word ‘bodies’ in
this verse speaks of the total person.
While sacrifices made to God are killed before they are offered up, here
it is speaking of our sacrifice being alive, because we are alive. There is a death that does take place though;
it is the death of our old nature. This
death is necessary for our spirit man to rise up and take dominion over
us. How healthy you are spiritually has
everything to do with how much spiritual food you partake of. If you starve your spirit man you will be
prone to following the world rather than the Lord. Feast on His word. Speak with Him often and
take the time to listen for the still small voice of His Holy Spirit.
We
are found to be holy in God’s sight as soon as we become covered in Christ’s
blood of redemption. Now we must seek to
become truly holy and therefore pleasing to God through the way we live our
lives. That is how we worship God, with our
lives. Living according to the standards
the Lord sets forth in scripture is not restrictive, but rather
liberating. Everyone needs a standard to
live by. Man is wholly incapable to
setting up a standard that works for everyone.
He is too egocentric, too self-absorbed.
God set up an attainable set of instructions to follow; however, one
must read His word to know what they are.
We can’t live this life successfully on our own. God will honor our lives if we live for Him
and not for ourselves. Based on the
price that was paid for our freedom from our own sin, I believe it’s the very
least we can do. Until next time, walk
with the King and be a blessing!
