Sacrifices were a huge part of the Old Testament believers. One voluntary sacrifice was the burnt offering. It was an expression of thanks and commitment to God. It was to express their worship and devotion. It was also to make atonement for unintentional sins. This sacrifice was either a bull, pigeon, turtledove, or ram. Your offering was dependent on your economic status. The fire would completely consume the offering. These sacrifices had to die, but in Romans 12:1, God calls us to be a living sacrifice.
Romans 12:1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
A sacrifice is presented like a gift. When you give someone something, it is theirs. You relinquish all rights to the gift, it becomes a sacrifice when it cost you something. For it to be a sacrifice, it must be of value to you. It must be something you needed or wanted, which has become dear to you. It may be almost painful to give it up, but you do because of your love for the receiver. In the New Testament, we are no longer required to kill an animal and offer it to God. We are to offer our lives, living as a sacrifice to Him. We are to surrender our desires for His desires for us. We are to willingly offer the sacrifice of our lives for Him to use us while we are here.
With a sacrifice, there are no regrets or holding back. You are releasing all claims or rights to it. When offering it to God, it will seem so little, but it is all you have. Some may think this all-in approach to serving God is unreasonable, but they are so wrong. We are created by Him and for Him. He has far more to offer us than we ever have to offer Him. He, above anyone, knows what a living sacrifice costs. He gave His Son as a living sacrifice for us.
We are at His mercy, and he does not owe us anything. He created us! While most want to take charge of their lives and not acknowledge the God who made them, they are playing the role of the fool. In Romans 9:20-21, Paul shows the absurdity of the person who takes charge of their own life without God. They are not only playing the fool by not lovingly following the one who made them but also missing the opportunity to have a blessed, satisfied, joyful life here. God, our maker, knows far better what His piece of clay should and can do and what would make it complete. When we seek our way, many disappointments will rule our lives. In the end, we give up the chance to spend eternity in perfection with the perfect Creator that made us. The happiest we will ever be on this side of eternity is when we lay release the control of our lives back to Him.
Romans 9:20-21 “Nay but, O man, who art thou that answers back against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?
As a living sacrifice, we can offer ourselves to Him daily. The Jews offered their sacrifices on an altar and presented it dead. No longer could it be used. A sacrifice had to be made each year, and another dead animal would be offered. We have the blessed opportunity to offer a living, vibrate, continuous offering to our God. Paul, as a Jew, understood what a dead sacrifice was and what it represented. However, when he met Jesus, everything changed. He was sold out to serve the Savior. He faced opposition often, sometimes daily. He was left for dead for his faith, only to be raised up by God to continue. He lived ready to die and ready to serve. He lived to tell others about how they could experience this wonderful Savior. In I Corinthians 15:31, Paul affirms with everything in him that he is ready to serve and does serve every day as if it were his last. “I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.” We are to do the same. Imagine the day you will stand before God and give an account of your life. Will you hear Him say, with a smile, as Jesus said in Matthew 25:21, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”
That is my desire when I stand before Him. I understand that in Christ, I am a new creation. In II Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” I know that as a living sacrifice, there will be many things that seek to hinder my walk daily. Therefore, I am to be, as Paul states in Romans 12:2, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” In I Peter 1:15, we are called to be holy in all our conduct. In Ephesians 4:23, we can be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and in verse 24, we put on the new man who is created in righteousness and holiness. It is our privilege to be a part of God’s great design for mankind, but it is a choice that we must make for ourselves. No one can make it for you; if you refuse, no excuses will be accepted when you stand before Him. Today is the day to be alive and vibrate for Him!
Ephesians 4:23-24 “And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
I Peter 1:15 “but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.”
