Re:Verse passage – Romans 12:1-2 (day five). Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God-this is your true and proper worship.
Paul uses an interesting phrase to describe the Christian Life- “living sacrifice”. From what we have learned and read in the Old Testament, we are familiar with the sacrificial system. Animals were killed and then put on the altar until they were totally consumed. They remained on the altar. Paul contrasts the dead animal sacrifices of the Old Testament Mosaic Law and borrows the imagery of temple ritual and altar service to redefine Christian devotion as a continuous offering of one’s life to God- living sacrifice. This idea of a living sacrifice was a jolt to those original readers and should be to us as well. And here comes the tension and difficulty with living sacrifices- being a living sacrifice demands an ongoing, intentional, regular, and frequent desire to surrender control of personal comfort, desires, and authority (self-sovereignty). The problem with living sacrifices is that they (we) tend to crawl off the altar deciding to live life as they (we) choose and see fit for them (ourselves). As we live “in view of God’s mercy” we are compelled to trust and sacrifice for His glory and our good.
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