1And so, dear brothers and sisters,a I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. 3Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. 4Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. (Romans 12:1-5 NLT)
It is an amazing thought to have that we are called to sacrifice ourselves as a part of the New Testament church. Under the Old Covenant followers were called to present unblemished sacrifices at the altar – Under the New Covenant, fulfilled by Jesus Christ, we are called to BE the sacrifice and LEAVE the altar! We are made holy, unblemished, by the blood of the Messiah and, as scripture then teaches, we are called to sacrifice ourselves to His body. See what happened there? He sacrificed himself for our sakes – now we are called to sacrifice ourselves for HIS sake.
Oh but that is hard, isn’t it? See what I did there? But, But, But – as in when God shares His will with us – his “good and perfect will” with us – and our first response is, “but…” “But I don’t have the time.” “But that is not what I had planned.” “But my kids need to be in a youth group.” “But I don’t have the training for that.” Our selfish nature rears its ugly head and we begin to stammer and stumble over all of the reasons why God is wrong and we are right and how what we are perceiving as His will is impossible and won’t really lead to anything that is “good and perfect” with me – and so on, and so on, and so on.
First of all, DUH! If it was possible in our own strength then we wouldn’t even need God. Secondly, it must be an intentional decision made of our own free will. The challenge, of course, is to set aside ourselves and our own free wills and TRUST our savior. Oh my, there’s that word again – the “T” word – Trust. Nobody is ever perfect in their submission, this is true, but ask yourself, “Do I trust? Can I possibly trust? Or do I trust God only when it seems to suit me or benefit me?” Good questions that only we as individuals can answer. Actually, we spend our redeemed lives answering them, don’t we?
It is an amazing thought to have that we are called to sacrifice ourselves as a part of the New Testament church. Under the Old Covenant followers were called to present unblemished sacrifices at the altar – Under the New Covenant, fulfilled by Jesus Christ, we are called to BE the sacrifice and LEAVE the altar! We are made holy, unblemished, by the blood of the Messiah and, as scripture then teaches, we are called to sacrifice ourselves to His body. See what happened there? He sacrificed himself for our sakes – now we are called to sacrifice ourselves for HIS sake.
Oh but that is hard, isn’t it? See what I did there? But, But, But – as in when God shares His will with us – his “good and perfect will” with us – and our first response is, “but…” “But I don’t have the time.” “But that is not what I had planned.” “But my kids need to be in a youth group.” “But I don’t have the training for that.” Our selfish nature rears its ugly head and we begin to stammer and stumble over all of the reasons why God is wrong and we are right and how what we are perceiving as His will is impossible and won’t really lead to anything that is “good and perfect” with me – and so on, and so on, and so on.
First of all, DUH! If it was possible in our own strength then we wouldn’t even need God. Secondly, it must be an intentional decision made of our own free will. The challenge, of course, is to set aside ourselves and our own free wills and TRUST our savior. Oh my, there’s that word again – the “T” word – Trust. Nobody is ever perfect in their submission, this is true, but ask yourself, “Do I trust? Can I possibly trust? Or do I trust God only when it seems to suit me or benefit me?” Good questions that only we as individuals can answer. Actually, we spend our redeemed lives answering them, don’t we?
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