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A Living Sacrifice
We have all read Romans
12:1, “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.”
Somebody, I wish it had been me, once
said, “The problem with a living sacrifice is it keeps crawling
off the altar.”
That accurately describes one of our
biggest problems. We present ourselves to the Lord, saying we will
give up everything for Him and lay ourselves on the altar. But
then something catches our eye. We stand up on the altar to get a
better look. We crawl to the edge of the altar to get a closer
look. Then, ever so slightly, we find we have left the altar
behind altogether.
Most of the time, in reality, all of
the time, this happens because we have sacrificed the wrong
things. Typically, when we think about sacrificing for God, we
think about activities and pleasures we may have to give up. We
think about actions that might bring momentary pleasure.
When we think along those lines, we are
fighting the battle one temptation at a time. We are trying to
stop each arrow as it flies our way, when we ought to fight
against the archer.
Who is the archer? While clearly Satan
hurls his fiery darts (Ephesians
6:16), the truth is we are our own worst enemies. If not
for us, Satan would have no strength or power against us. James
put it this way in James
1:14-15, “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away
by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived it
gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth
death.”
There is the root of all our sins—our
desires. When we consider our sacrifice, we must not consider
particular activities. Instead, we need to sacrifice the desires
that make those activities attractive.
In Galatians
5:24, Paul said we should crucify our flesh, with its
desires. In Colossians
3:5, he said we should put evil desire to death. He was
making the same point in Romans
12:1, when he said we are to be living sacrifices.
In Galatians
2:20, he put it this way, “I have been crucified with
Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and
the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son
of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
What are we really supposed to be sacrificing? A lot of
individual activities? No, we are supposed to be sacrificing
ourselves along with our desires and passions. Jesus said in Luke
9:23, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Strong
words—have we thought about what they mean? We will over the
next few weeks.
Edwin L. Crozier
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