Living Sacrifices

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Romans 12:1 (ESV)

How do we respond to God’s mercy? The fact that God pursued us with His redeeming love and did not give us what we deserved engenders a response. Think of where we would be had God’s mercy not been applied to our hopeless estate. We were separated from God as a result of our sin. We deserved punishment, alienation, and eternal damnation. In His mercy, God provided the atonement for our sin through the sinless sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross.

In response to His mercy, God is not asking us to die for Him. God wants us to respond to His mercy by living for Him. Instead of being a dead sacrifice, God wants us to be a living sacrifice. Our spiritual act of worship that moves the heart of God is that of being holy and pleasing to Him. To be holy is to work out in practical daily living the holiness of Christ imparted to us at the moment of our salvation. We received the imputed righteousness of Christ which instantly gave us a right standing before our holy God. That event is to be followed by the process of living a holy life that is pleasing to God.

Offer your body as a living sacrifice by loving what God loves and hating what God hates. Live in perpetual dependence upon the power of the Holy Spirit to stay clean while living in this dirty world. Practice His presence throughout the day and be sensitive to His prompting. Confess sin immediately. Choose to stay close and clean.

Drawing Near,

Stephen Trammell
Lead Pastor
Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell