A Living Sacrifice

I’ve been reading through Romans 12 a lot the past couple of weeks. It has been hard for me to not think about verse one, which is a good thing. For several years most mornings I’ve prayed, “Lord, I want to present myself to you as a living sacrifice today.” I think I really do mean what I say, but …

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve really started to think more about it. What does it really mean to present myself as a living sacrifice? That’s an important question for me, or any follower of Christ, to answer. Here are some thoughts:

The basis of Paul’s appeal is the mercies of God. Because of God’s mercies, we are to present ourselves to Him as a living sacrifice. I need to stop and think about God and His mercies daily, or even several times a day, To think about God – who He is, His character, His promises, and His Word. To know Him. And then to think about His mercies. According to Jeremiah, His mercies do not come to an end, and they are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). Wow!

My response to the mercies of God becomes obvious, even unavoidable – present myself to Him as a living sacrifice. But still, what does it mean to present myself as a living sacrifice?

There’s so much to this, but why complicate things? I think it’s right to say, “To present myself to God as a living sacrifice is to show gratitude and dependence on God because of the work of Jesus on my behalf. I do that when I trust and obey.”

There it is. I trust and obey Jesus.