Have you ever wondered what it means by offering oneself as a living sacrifice to God? Or perhaps you would just like to know more about how to offer yourself as a living sacrifice to God, then continue reading.
In the Old testament, animals were presented as sacrifices for sin offering and the priests offered these animals to God in burnt offerings. However, in the New Testament, Romans 12:1-2 tells us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, this it says is our reasonable service.
What does it mean to present our bodies as a living sacrifice?
What is ‘sacrifice’ anyway? The Cambridge dictionary defines ‘sacrifice’ in many ways.
- ‘to give up something that is valuable to you in order to help another person’.
- ‘to kill an animal or person and offer them to a god or gods’.
- ‘to give up something for something else considered more important’.
Jesus Christ offered himself as a sacrifice once and for all and there are no more animal or human sacrifices that God requires from us (Heb 10:12).
We have obtained God’s mercy through the blood of Jesus, so Paul is pleading with us who profess Christ, to continue to offer our own bodies back to God for as long as we live (a living sacrifice) and that is the only way to please God. Remember the priests were offering sacrifices daily to God and we are now priests (a royal priesthood) who must continue this act of daily sacrifices pleasing to God, not offering animals but our bodies.
Matthew 16:24-26 (NKJV) states ‘Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?’
How can you be a living sacrifice to God?
This can be done in two ways;
- Do not be conformed to this world.
We are not to love the world or follow the patterns and customs of this world. The god of this world is Satan and to love the world means disliking almighty God and putting enmity between God and ourselves. What has light got to do with darkness?
2. We must be transformed by the renewing of our mind.
By changing the way we think, our old self before our new life. As a man thinks, so is he! You can only manifest divinity when you think you are divine and God Himself lives in you by his Holy Spirit and we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
By speaking the word of God over any contrary thoughts or evidence the devil presents.
By reading and practising the word of God and yielding to the Holy Spirit who knows God’s mind and will for us, so we do not go our own way. There is a way that seems right onto a man, but the end is death. As far as the heavens are above the earth so are God’s ways above ours.
Not by might, not by power but by my Spirit says the Lord. God the father and Jesus the son did nothing without the Holy Spirit, which is the power of God. Likewise, we can do nothing by ourselves except by the Holy Spirit.
And that is how we can offer our bodies daily as a living sacrifice to God. God bless you as you seek to fulfil this calling.
Good one