We were talking in one of our discipleship groups recently about what it means to “make my life a living sacrifice.”
I recently read some interesting thoughts from Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest. He was commenting on II Corinthians 6:1-10. This passage is talking about grace. Oswald states that the grace we had yesterday will not be sufficient for today. In times of distress, in need, when our patience is tested…it is not just praying and asking God to help, it’s taking His grace then and now. “Prayer is drawing on God’s grace CONTINUALLY.” ~ Oswald Chambers.
How often do I say to myself, “I’ll wait until I can get somewhere to pray”, rather than praying right then and there and drawing on and receiving His grace?
This leads me to what a “living sacrifice” actually means to me.
It is not like the Old Testament sacrifices, being offered up to be slain and then dead on the altar, but it’s offering up my living self so I can be empowered (made more alive through God’s grace). It is taking my hands off, so that God can put His Hands on.
I don’t believe it’s a one-time thing. Just like drawing on God’s grace continually, a living sacrifice means continually sacrificing. Every day, every hour, every moment, right NOW I deliberately, consciously, continually offer myself to Him. I have the choice; I choose to obey.
It’s in this surrender, that I receive the grace that Paul is talking about in II Corinthians 6:“Since we are God’s coworkers, we beg you not to take God’s marvelous grace for granted, allowing it to have no effect on your lives. For He (God) says:’I listened to you at the time of my favor. And the day when you needed salvation, I came to your aid.’” (Paul, quoting Isaiah 40:8) ~ II Corinthians 6:1-2
Paul goes on to say in II Corinthians 7:1 ~ “We must remove everything from our lives that contaminates body and spirit, and continue to complete the development of holiness within us.”
In other words, we put to death the things that contaminate us, and offer ourselves as living sacrifices, “holy” and “pleasing.” This becomes our “true worship” Paul refers to in Romans 12:1 CSB: “Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.”
I like the expanded commentary in the Message:
“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” ~ Romans 12:1 The MESSAGE. (That’s what “holy” is! Maturity which comes from “wholly” surrendering to God.)
How does this all tie together?
My part=offering a continual living sacrifice.
God’s part=continual pouring in grace.
My part=Accepting His grace; opening up for more and more.
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