"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." - Romans 12:1
It can be quite the eye-opening experience to study the sacrificial system used in the old testament by the people of Israel. When a sacrifice was made, it was to be a healthy, unblemished animal. A specific process was to be used by which the animal was slain to demonstrate the seriousness of sin. There was clear identification between the animal being sacrificed for a sin offering and the one bringing the animal to be sacrificed.
In the passage above, the phrase rendered "reasonable service" in the King James and "Spiritual act of worship" in the NIV actually might be more acurately stated as "logical priestly duty". The phrase referred to the duties of a priest who was performing his expected duties for God. Niether translation is wrong, though I feel to rephrase this particular passage to include the undertones in the Greek more effectively drives the point home for the purposes of this study.
In like manner, the Christian is a sort of priest of God and yet is also the sacrifice. Our "logical priestly duty" is to offer as a sacrifice to God, our living bodies. In other words, we are to live our lives in service to Him regardless of the cost to ourselves. In light of all He has done for us it only makes sense, does it not? We cannot out-give God and to offer Him all we have is not to even come close to repaying what He gave to us. Offering our all, therefore is the expected reaction of one who has been given the honor of serving as a priest of God. In whatever role God has placed you, consider it an opportunity to serve Him whether in an honored position or a humble one... whether in joy or in times of hardship and sorrow. If God is really God in our lives then we will see wherever we are in life as coming from Him, whether directly or because He allowed it to take place. Since we know God loves us in agape, we can trust fully in Rom. 8:28 and similar passages. While we may not see it, every circumstance is a chance for us to grow closer to God.
To complete the metaphor: We are called to lay down our lives on the altar and allow God to consume us. It is hard to be obedient sometimes and allow ourselves to be slowly, and often painfully, burned away. The problem with a living sacrifice is that it has the ability to leave the altar, but God, who defines Himself as the active form of the most complete form of love, would have it no other way. He wants us to love Him enough to come willingly to His altar and to live our lives for Him. We may have times when we get up and step away, but God has given us a choice and is always calling on us to lay down and let Him remove the "us" in us until it is Christ in us that remains.
"Therefore, since we are recieving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire." - Hebrews 12:28-29
Chatboard (10)