Sunday, January 22, 2012

Worship With Everything You Have

Romans 12:1 says, to offer our bodies are a living sacrifice. Every believer has something to offer God as a sacrifice of worship. This sacrifice isn’t something morbid—rather it’s something alive and joyful; it’s an offering given out of gratefulness for His gift to us—salvation and eternal life. We no longer offer bulls and goats for sin as was custom in the Old Testament before Jesus came to live among us. He sacrificed His life for us. Our sacrifice is our heart, given freely to the One who redeemed it from the fate of spiritual death.
So, how to do we worship in this way? How does our life become a living sacrifice?
One way is to realize our life is full of choices. Every day we choose paths to follow, deeds to do, and actions to take. We will choose life or death, right or wrong—we will choose friends, make decisions, and follow paths that will either bring peace or turmoil. Choosing what honors God is what’s best, but without His help we struggle to do what is right. And, without a changed heart and transformed mind we can’t begin to know what to do.
Another way is to worship with who we are. We can take the talents, interests and gifts we have been given and either hide them, waste them or ignore them—or we can use them to touch the lives of others. If we hide them they will wither. But, if we exercise them and offer them, they will grow and flourish.
God takes us as we are, gives us a new heart and a new mind to comprehend the depth of His love, and then begins to nurture us in the right way to go.
So what does this living sacrifice idea mean to you? What do you have to offer Him?

Giving it all to Him,

Jeanne


2 comments:

  1. Such a great point! A living sacrifice is not morbid. I never really thought about the perception of the word sacrifice and how we apply death instead of love to that term.

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  2. I have grown to love this verse and the image of giving my all to the One who gave His all for me. I don't know if I can ever do it in the same way I imagine, but it gives me something to think about whenever I say YES to Him.

    Thanks for stopping in Barbara,
    Jeanne

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