Winning Wisdom: Living Sacrifice

Winning Wisdom: Living Sacrifice

Author: Ese Ehimare Dave
Topic: Living Sacrifice [Thursday, 19th Jan. 2017]
 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Romans 12:1
 From our lead scripture, we are encouraged by the inspiration of God's Spirit, to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, which as the NIV bible puts it, is our true and proper worship. Does this means we need to, like Abraham attempted with Isaac, offer ourselves as sacrifices to God, as an act of worship to God? In the Old Testament, apart from offering the regular prayers, burnt sacrifices were offered unto God and this was probably the highest form of worship then. But these sacrifices are not "living". The animals used were actually killed and burnt.
 But Paul is urging us to be "living" sacrifices. Another word for living is active. Reading further down Romans 12:4-8, we see Paul enumerating some activities we have received grace to carry out. Those are the "acts of worship" we are to offer unto God. In everything that God has given us grace to do, we must reverentially carry it as an act of spiritual worship. Just like the men of old reverentially sacrificed their burnt offerings to God.
 God wants to use the instrumentality of our bodies - our intellect,  mind, hands, legs - for activities that furthers the spread of His Kingdom. And we are urged to sacrifice our "bodies" for this holy task. This is our act of worship. Whether in prophesying, in teaching, in exhorting, in administrating, etc, do it as unto the Lord (Colossians 3:23), as an act of worship to Him. "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" (Romans 12:1 NIV).
 Keep winning daily.
Prayer:
 Dear Lord, daily I offer my body to You, as an act of worship, for the use of the propagation of your kingdom. I am active in the place you have graced me to function in, and I do it, achieving great result, in Jesus' Name. Amen.