… present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
Romans 12:1
In the Old Testament, we read God’s commandments to the people of Israel about how they were to offer animals as a sacrifice for forgiveness of sin and to express their worship to Him. The animals were to be without blemish or defect.
In the New Testament, Hebrews 9:14, we learn that Jesus is the Lamb of God who offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice, crucified on the cross, to pay the penalty for the sins of the world. Now, instead of offering animal sacrifices, God asks us to respond to Him in worship by offering ourselves in complete surrender to Him — to know Him, love Him, and follow Him in obedience to His Word.
So how do we “present our bodies to God as a living and holy sacrifice?” It is not a one-time-once-for-all response. Here are some thoughts about what we can offer Him daily:
Our best time of the day to spend with Him, making Him our highest priority
Our worship for who He is and what He has done for us
Our surrender, trust, obedience, complete dependence on Him
Our mind, will and emotions
Our abilities, strengths and gifts, and even our weaknesses
Our loved ones
Our possessions
Our past, our present, our future
I’m sharing a few lines from “A Prayer for First Thing in the Morning” by the author Asheritah Ciuciu. I received permission to quote a few lines if I include the link to her website: onethingalone.com.
“Thank you that Your compassion is renewed every morning. Great is Your faithfulness and Your steadfast love, O Lord!…. Holy Spirit, come and hover over my mind like You hovered over the waters at creation and speak order out of the chaos! Help me to cease striving and trust that you will give me all I need today to do the work You’ve given me to do…. Everything I am is Yours.”
I especially love the idea of asking the Holy Spirit to bring order out of chaos in my mind. I’m sure we all struggle with distracting thoughts as we spend quiet time with the Lord in prayer. We can specifically pray for the Holy Spirit to lead us in how to worship, how to seek Him with our whole heart, and how to pray for others.
And here is one more prayer of surrender from Sheila Walsh in her book Honestly. I want to have this attitude each day! “Lord, I stand before You with open hands. Whatever you place in them I will welcome. Whatever you take away I will gladly let go”
PERSONAL REFLECTION
Ask God to reveal any area of your life you are not surrendering to Him.
Praise Him for His sacrifice that has accomplished for you what you could never accomplish for yourself. In obedience, you can respond to Him by “presenting yourself as a living sacrifice.”
Consider writing your own prayer of gratitude and surrender to God.
This is the best and most helpful commentary I have seen on Romans 12:1. I plan to save it and look at it often.
What a timely word today! My mind tends toward chaos and anxiety these days with ever changing circumstances. Praying that the Holy Spirit will hover over the chaos and bring order and clarity to do the one thing, maybe two:) today. Thank you Sherrilyn
Amen.