Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12: 1-2
What does it mean to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to God? How do we work out this spiritual principle in our daily lives? Today, what can you and I do to demonstrate our love and loyalty to Jesus by how we prioritize our time and energy?
In a word, we die. Sounds so dramatic, doesn’t it? But it is God’s requirement to each and every disciple of Jesus. We are meant to live dead unto ourselves all day, every day. Indeed, every moment we draw breath after having repented and believed and are regenerated, God’s Word tells us to live our lives sacrificially.
Giving our lives away every day
Unlike the message of the world to find ourselves, please ourselves, live for ourselves, God’s children must do the polar opposite. We live in Christ but we die to ourselves. Which means our worldview must also be renewed one day at a time. We must immerse ourselves in God’s manual (the Bible) so that we are able to test and approve (truth from error).
Renewing our minds every day
One day at a time, our priority should be to consistently, diligently, and persistently seek God first. As we prioritize our daily time with God (away from the noise and distractions of the world); God will renew us from the inside out. He promises to give wisdom to those who ask. He tells us that he will guide our steps. God will continually demonstrate his perfect and abiding love toward us if we seek him first and foremost.
Our hearts are revealed by our words and choices
As we learn what it means to be a disciple of Christ, his Word will illuminate our hearts and minds which will necessarily alter and affect our choices. We cannot separate our faith from our deeds. God’s Word will renew us so that we will be washed clean of the world’s sinfulness, thus we will live as living sacrifices unto him.
Today, let us each take the time to seek God. Let us open us his holy Word and sit in silence before him allowing his Word to do the work of transformation in our hearts. As God slowly works this inner transformation within us, we will understand more clearly what it means to offer ourselves as living sacrifices…which is our only true and proper worship.
Questions for Personal Reflection:
- How can understanding God’s amazing gift of salvation spur in us the rightful desire to offer ourselves as living sacrifices?
- How do you see studying God’s Word as the key to a renewed mind?
- What portions of Scripture do you personally find most helpful when seeking to make a decision in your life? How so?
- As we study the Bible, we will discover that God’s will for us is more about developing Godly character than it is a specific life decision. Have you ever made discovering God’s will more complicated than it should be?
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