A Living Sacrifice

On Sunday my pastor gave an awesome message. The whole thing was about "keeping a God perspective". We get so caught up in what's going on in our culture, what other people think of us and what we want for our own lives, that we can forget to stop and see what God says about it all. There were great lessons throughout the entire sermon but one thing jumped out at me and has been in the forefront of my mind since.

He said that we are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God. Romans 12:1 puts it this way:

"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."

I've been thinking about the word "sacrifice". One of the dictionary's definitions of this word is:

"to surrender or give up, or permit injury or disadvantage to, for the sake of something else."

To me this means that one is to let go or set aside something. If we are surrendering this thing then it is likely something we would really like to hold onto. We are only giving it up for something better, or may I say more important. I think of a child who has just one cookie left and is getting ready to eat it but when he sees a child who has no cookies, he gives his last one to the other child. Now we know that the first child really would rather eat the cookie himself but he surrendered it so the other child could have some. It was for a greater cause than his own enjoyment.

The pastor taked about Gideon in Judges, chaper 6. God told Gideon in Judges 6:25-25,

"Tear down your father's altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God."

In my notes I wrote, "I must tear down the diseased altars in my life before I can build a new altar to God." Tearing down the diseased altars means getting rid of everything in my life that isn't godly or that takes away from time I should be spending doing the things God has given me to do. How can I do a job for God if a part of my life is tainted? God wants my whole life not just the parts I would readily like to give. It will be tough, as sacrifices are, but I must give every thing that I am for God to use as He sees fit. This is my "spiritual act of worship".