Is Your Body a Living Sacrifice?

Rom. 12:1-2 NLT    

   1 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.  2 Don’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.

In chapters nine through 11 Paul reviews the history of God with the Hebrew people and then with the Gentiles. He carefully explains How God arranged to bring the hope of Salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, not only to the people of his heritage but also to all human kind, regardless of nationality. God's true people are not of a particular nation, language or heritage. God's true people are people who are willing to exhibit the responsive faith of Abraham, trusting in God for all things regardless of how circumstances appear. They do not 'earn' God's love, they receive it by faith and then reflect it out toward others. Paul urges the Lord's people to be distinct apart from those of "the world" by NOT copying the world's self-centered, self-serving ways. When we ask God to change the way we think, so that we will think His thoughts then the promise Paul makes here is fulfilled. We will, indeed, learn to recognize and understand God's will in such a way that we see it to be good-- we see it to be pleasing to God, we allow Him to make it perfect in us.

Can you give yourself sacrificially to God today?  I saw a sad movie recently depicting the enslavement of children around the world-- including in the US-- into sex trade. Politicians, officials, gangsters, all together enslaving bodies of children. You never hear the liberal politicians speaking out for these trafficked children. In fact, many of their agencies, funded with tax-payer monies have recently been revealed as being a part of such evil traffic. Still they are silent.

The church of Jesus Christ should not be silent on this evil. We should pray for these children and seek God's will for ways to help them, in some way. It may be a call for ministry, it may be a call for service, it may be a call for generosity, but it definitely is a call to prayer. Our God does not enslave us. He waits for us to grant Him access to our bodies. Then His Holy Spirit enters and sanctifies it, setting it apart for His will and purpose. What might the Lord be calling you to do, this day, to oppose evil?

Your servant in Christ's love

Dan

Daniel C. Elliott
drdelliott@gmail.com