Sanctified Sacrifices

In Romans 12:1 Paul calls Christians to take action when he writes, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." At the time it was written, the Romans were familiar with sacrifices. Both Jews and Gentiles offered sacrifices and it is probable that many of the Christians there had offered sacrifices in the past as well. Today, however, we are not as familiar with sacrifices.

*But ignorance is not an excuse for lack of action.*

Its time that we become “doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves,” James 1:22. How can we offer our bodies as living sacrifices that are holy and acceptable to God? If we first understand how to offer a sacrifice, we will then be able to offer our whole selves as sanctified sacrifices that are acceptable to the one who sacrificed His all.

When God called Abraham to sacrifice his son, He commanded: "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you" (Gen. 22:2). This passage in Genesis 22 suggests four steps for Abraham to present his sacrifice:

*Receive the word of God
vs. 2 received the command and resolved to obey

*Prepare the sacrifice:
vs. 3 rose early in morning, saddled donkey, took two young men, split the wood, went to the place
vs. 4 traveled for three days
vs. 5-6 went to worship; leave lads behind
vs. 7-8 Abraham trusted God to provide the sacrifice
vs. 9 built alter, placed wood, bound Isaac, laid him on alter

*Kill the sacrifice:
vs. 10 stretched our hand to slay, but God provides a ram (vs. 11-13)

*Present (offer) the sacrifice:
vs. 13 ram, burnt offering to the Lord

Theses steps can be applied to our lives today as we present a sacrifice of ourselves to God.

In order to present ourselves as a healthy and whole sacrifice, we must first receive the Word of God and acknowledge that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirt and are to be sanctified, or set apart, for the Lord.

Next, we need to prepare the sacrifice. Unless the preparation is made, we do not have a holy body to offer. It took Abraham time, energy, and a lot of effort to prepare to sacrifice, and it takes the us the same amount of effort today.

In order to offer God the best possible sacrifice, we must commit ourselves to the call. It took perseverance and steadfastness for Abraham to travel three days to Moriah; likewise, a sacrifice does not become holy and perfect overnight. For us to present our whole beings as holy and acceptable to God, we must persist with all dedication. In order to have fully prepared the sacrifice, every area must be sanctified and holy. Sanctification, or setting ourselves apart for a higher calling, pertains to the whole being and not merely to any one part. I Thessalonians 5:23 says, “may the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

*It is our only reasonable service to present our bodies, an entirety of who we are both in mind and body and also in soul, as living sacrifices that are sanctified and acceptable to God.*

After receiving the Word and preparing the complete sacrifice, the sacrifice must be "killed." In my opinion, there are three respects in which a sacrifice is "killed" so that we may present their body holy and acceptable to God:

Jesus died as our propitiation (Romans 3:25).
We must die with Christ in baptism, thus putting to death the old man and raising in newness of life (Romans 6:3-6).
We must die daily (1 Corinthians 15:31).

Dying to our flesh and the desires that contradict what we know we must do to live a healthy life is no easy task. It must be done daily and with vengeance. The desire of the flesh is never satisfied with what it's given, it will always want more. Therefore, as temples of the Holy Spirit, we must daily bring these desires under submission and seek to live and make choices that lead to healthy and whole lives.

It is my prayer that this blog, as imperfect as it is, will serve as one of many tools to encourage your healthy living as we receive the word of God and subsequently engage in the process of sanctification- becoming healthy and whole- so that we can be found both holy and acceptable as we offer our minds, bodies, and souls to the Lord.... for this is truly is our only reasonable sacrifice.

Here's to the start of a great journey!