Living Sacrifice

Christian Working Woman Transcript from Tuesday, Tuesday, December 02, 2008

My Body, a Living Sacrifice

You've probably heard lots of sermons on Romans 12:1-2, where we are told to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. Does that mean check into a monastery, walk on hot coals, throw ourselves to the lions? Let’s try to get a biblical view of what it means to present your body as a living sacrifice.

This sacrifice is a living one, not dead. That's encouraging. Presenting our bodies does not imply some physical death or bodily punishment. But what does it mean?

We read in Romans 6:19: Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.

Did you ever realize that you've been offering your body as a sacrifice all along? It's true; we all do it throughout life. Most people are offering the parts of their body in slavery to impurity and wickedness. Now, they aren't necessarily aware of doing that, but indeed, that's what we see all around us.

For example, when people relinquish their feet to go where sin takes them, to the wrong places, their feet are slaves to impurity and wickedness. When their tongues speak words that hurt and harm, their hands to do things that are not pleasing to God, their eyes and ears see and hear the trash of this world, they have sacrificed these parts of their bodies to evil.

Some people sacrifice their bodies to meaningless and trivial things. While they might not be classified as evil, their hands and feet, eyes and ears, tongues and hearts are sacrificed to time-consuming activities that are largely insignificant.

But, as a child of God, I have the opportunity to offer my body as a living sacrifice to bring glory to Jesus. Instead of using my body in acts of evil and triviality, I can, if I choose to, be a part of God's eternal plan and have his power working through my body. Then my hands and eyes and feet and tongue—and all my other body parts—will be living sacrifices to God instead of to evil. And this leads to holiness in my life. Presenting my body as a living sacrifice begins to sound more like a privilege than a drudgery, doesn't it?

But the question remains: How do I offer my body as a living sacrifice? I've found some practical ways of doing that on a daily basis that have made a difference in my life, and I want to share those with you. Perhaps you'll find it helpful, too.