Look at Romans 12:1, Therefore I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God- this is your spiritual act of worship..
When we ask God what do you want? And he says, "I want your body." You see when he gets the body, he gets the contents. Paul gives us so much direction how to give it to him. "Present your body to him as a living sacrifice." If you are like me by this point you may saying OK what does that really mean? Why a living sacrifice? Paul was basically contrasting it with the old Testament sacrifices, which animals were first killed, cut into pieces and placed on the altar. Paul was saying, "Don't kill your body and place it on the altar. Place a living body on the altar."
When a sacrifice was placed on the altar it no longer belonged to the person who offered it, it belonged to God. It is as though God says here, "Place your body on My altar as a living sacrifice. From now on you don't own it. I own it. You don't make decisions as to what will happen to your body- I make them. I take full responsibility for it. I decide what you will eat, wear, and where you go. Hang with me this is the meat of this message: There are major benefits to this kind of commitment. God has a different attitude toward the property that is merely leased to Him as opposed to the property that is His. He accepts full responsibility for what he owns. This information came from a book by Derek Prince "Secrets of A Prayer Warrior."
God has made it clear that offering our bodies as living sacrifices is OBEDIENCE that comes from our heart. This is so much more important. Daily laying aside our own desires to follow him. Putting all our energy, resources at His disposal and TRUSTING him. This should be the least thing we can do, since God sent Jesus to die for our sins.
Surrendering your life to God is the most wonderful and hardest thing you will ever have to do. To cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give it up for me, you will find it. (Matthew 10:39).
Drinking from this world will cause us to give up the dream that God has for us. The more we drink from this world with the earthly treasures: money, power, popularity, the more we will discover how empty we really feel. We have to realize that the earthly treasures are only temporary and that we are citizens of another world that offers us eternal life. We live in a world who favors blending in, being just like everybody else. Their is a cost to going after the "life that is living the dream that God has for us." At the end of my life when I stand at the throne of God, I long to hear those powerful words "Well Done My Good and Faithful Servant" you went after the dreams that I planted in your heart, and you fulfilled your purpose exactly the way my dreams for you were. Well Done!
all of grace,
Robbie
