How You Can Become a “Living Sacrifice” in Response to God’s Love

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God loves you!

He really loves you!

Not a “love ya” at the end of a note or an email but deep lasting involved love that cares about every aspect of your life.

The Lord’s love for you and me is so much more than warm fuzzy feelings. He loves us completely. God sent His Son who willingly died an excruciatingly painful death to suffer the punishment for our sins. And when He rose again, He sealed our victory so that through faith, we can have His power for everyday living and the sure promise of life with Him eternally.

Paul emphasizes those truths throughout the first eleven chapters of Romans.

Now, through the last five chapters, he will present what that means for you and me. Our response to God’s immeasurable love.

Romans 12 in The Message begins with these words:

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 12:1–2 (MSG)

Other translations say it like this:

• Present your bodies as a living sacrifice.
• Dedicate all of yourselves as a living sacrifice.
• Offer yourselves as a sacrifice, living and set apart for God.
• Give your bodies to God. Let them be a living sacrifice.
• Surrender yourselves to God to be his sacred, living sacrifices.

What does it mean?

It means to make the conscious decision to, with God’s help, surrender our own desires and follow His will, offering Him our time, energy, and resources—trusting Him to guide us.

I know I can’t on my own but I also know that if God says that is what He wants for us . . . He is able to help us accomplish it.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:13(NKJV)

A Prayer to Become a “Living Sacrifice”

Father, You have given all for me. James wrote, “every good and perfect gift comes from God, our Father.” (James 1:17) And David wrote, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.” (Psalm 37:4) Your love overwhelms me. I want to be the completely surrendered living sacrifice You want me to be. But I fall short of what I want to do and I definitely fall short of what You want me to do. Please forgive me and help me.

By the power of Your Spirit, please help me entrust every part of my life to You. My body, my mind, my emotions and my will. Every part of my life is a gift from You. You forgive and give. You watch over and guide. You proclaim and promise.

Please help me trust and love You with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Help me SEEK You in ways that give You first place in my life. And help me follow Your will and obey Your commands. Help me be a living sacrifice. I believe Your plans and purposes for me are good and filled with hope.

I surrender this day to You, Lord. With Your help, I will follow where You guide and I will do Your will as You reveal it to me. Please strengthen me to trust and obey—that my life might glorify You alone. In the name of Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

We don’t want to sacrifice. The enemy uses the world’s voices to tell us we need to focus on and put ourselves first.
But God says when we put Him first and love Him most we will have everything we need.

I want that . . . don’t you!

On today’s note write:

With the Spirit’s help, I will give myself to God as a “living sacrifice.”

May God bless you today and give you everything you need to “take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life” and offer it to God.

Click here to read the rest of Romans 12.

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