And so, dear brothers and sisters, 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. – Romans 12:1 NLT
Paul uses a unique phrase in Romans 12:1. He encourages us to be “a living sacrifice” that is holy, pleasing, and dedicated to God. This phrase is so unique because it can feel like an oxymoron. A sacrifice, in a religious context, is typically something that has been slaughtered and killed as an offering to God. When we look through the Old Testament laws instructing priests on how to perform the temple sacrifices, we quickly notice that the lambs, bulls, and other animals being offered are never living sacrifices…but dead. And yet, Paul tells us that we are to be living sacrifices. What does this mean?
Paul’s aim in this call to be a living sacrifice is rooted in the idea of dying to self and living for Christ. In fact, Paul himself expresses how he understands his life as a living sacrifice for God when he says in Galatians 2:20, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (NLT). Notice he is not saying that he is literally dead; he has been metaphorically crucified and therefore sacrificed.
What Paul has sacrificed is his old self, his pride, his previous life of persecuting the church, his sinful desires, his fleshly impulses. Paul is saying that he sacrifices all of that, lays down all of that, is getting rid of all that, to be raised up in the new life of Jesus’ resurrection power. Now he can truly live in surrender to God, because he has put away all that was holding him back.
Paul now lives as an obedient servant of King Jesus—following the commandments that Jesus has given, living in worship of the Lord, putting the needs of others in the church before his own. He is living in such a way that his own selfish desires are dead and what lives in him now is the power of the Spirit of God.
So, what might this look like practically? Imagine you have a desire to watch your favorite football team play on a Sunday afternoon following the church service. But you have been asked to stay late at the church to help set up for a 90th birthday party for one of the dear ladies in the church. Your own desire is to go home and lounge with the football game, but the Spirit of God in you is telling you to stay and help set up for the birthday party. The person who is a living sacrifice will choose to do what the Spirit of God is calling them to, and they will forfeit their own desires, which have been crucified with Christ.
This week, I invite you to reflect on this question: What do I need to sacrifice in order to have better obedience to God? What is keeping me from being fully Spirit led? How can I offer my body as a living sacrifice more completely?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank You for Your goodness and grace. I desire to obey You and put You first. Help me to surrender my plans, desires, and will, and help me to live with zeal for Your plans, desires, and will. Bless me to become a greater force for the expansion of Your Kingdom, as I walk as a living sacrifice for Your glory. In Your name, amen.
