WEDNESDAY September 30, 2020

Living Sacrifices

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.
Romans 12:1

Paul spoke to a Christian audience. He was teaching believers a transformation, a change, needs to take place in every child of the light. Paul exhorted Christians in Ephesians 5:8: For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. Christians are to live a consecrated life. The word consecrated means “dedicate, devoted, sanctified.” Believers dedicate themselves to live a holy life, and a holy service to God. By the mercies of God, He is at work in the life of a Christian.

Paul was a theologian; he was able to use illustrations from the Old Testament to help people understand what was now acceptable to God. God’s people would take an unblemished lamb to the temple. The priest offered the lamb as a sacrifice. It was killed to cover a person’s sin. Paul pleaded with believers to be a living sacrifice unto God! They should realize that their bodies were the temple of the Living God:

Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were brought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Corinthians 6:18-20).

The temple of the Holy Spirit is the same Greek words for “the Holy of Holies.” In the Old Testament, a priest could only enter the Holy of Holies once a year to sprinkle blood on the mercy seat to atone for his sins and the sins of the people. God requires a living sacrifice so every day a Christian has to place their whole self on the altar. A believer has to be holy. Is your mind and heart holy? No one shall ever see the Lord apart from holiness (Hebrews 12:14).

If you do not desire to be holy, I do not see that you have any right to think that you are a Christian.
~Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones~

For more from Raul Ries, please visit SomebodyLovesYou.com!