Living Sacrifice
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. — Romans 12:1 Gracious Lord Jesus, my friend and my King, The preceding 11 chapters of Paul's letter to the Romans is full of the amazing mercies God has given us. Awash in these mercies, we are urged to completely surrender the totality of our lives as if we were an animal offering placed on God's altar for sacrifice. All of us—my body, my life, my will—is to be a living sacrifice to you, Lord. But the problem with a living sacrifice is that they frequently crawl off the altar! Offering my body as a living sacrifice means that I recognize I get only one body in this lifetime. If I am giving it to the Lord, then I need to steward it well. If I don't take care of my body, I'm offering a blemished sacrifice. Offering my life as a living sacrifice means that all of me belongs to you—every waking mom...