“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” (Rom 12:1 MSG). The Message Bible captures in contemporary language a practical application of this verse. When Paul wrote, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice (NASV), people would have known the analogy behind his wording and what it meant. The Old Testament Law taught five types of offerings—trespass offering, sin offering, peace offering, meal offering, and the burnt offering. Paul is referencing to the burnt offering in this verse.
Several details were unique about the burnt offering. First, it was a voluntary offering. The other four were mandatory. An individual could go through their entire life and never make a burnt offering. A second noteworthy difference was that with the other four offerings, the priest received a portion of the meat and with the peace offering, the offerer received a portion. In contrast, with the burnt offering the priest completely burned the animal. Neither the priest nor the offerer received anything. The offerer made a voluntary sacrifice as an act of worship totally for the Lord’s pleasure. It is a burnt offering, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the Lord (Lev 1:17). Paul applies the ideal that our lives are a sweet aroma for God. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing (2Co 2:15). Therefore be imitators of God . . . just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma (Eph 5:1, 2). When we present our bodies as living sacrifice through every day actions, our lives are a soothing aroma to the Lord and the fragrance of Christ to those around us.
Jesus became the ultimate fulfillment and example of the burnt offer by giving Himself entirely and being fully consumed in His surrender. In the first eleven chapters of Romans, Paul shows that Jesus fulfilled the other four sacrifices in order to provide us with forgiveness, sanctification, and peace. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 5:1). But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life (6:22). Chapter 12 begins Paul’s practical section and he first tells us that we should offer ourselves as living sacrifice in response to what Christ as done for us.
So, how does this look in everyday life? First, Christians need to understand that worship is not confined to singing and praising the Lord on Sunday morning. Worship must become a 24/7 lifestyle that includes our actions, our thinking, and our attitudes; it is not limited or confined to a ritual one day of the week. The phrase spiritual service of worship was a word describing all ministries to God the priest did in the temple. The animal for OT burnt offering had to die. Now God desires offerings that are alive— present your bodies a living . . . sacrifice. Serving God is never dull, boring, restricted, or an unhappy task. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly (Joh 10:10). These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full (Joh 15:11). Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you (Joh 14:27). These three verses are only a few of the blessings of becoming a living sacrifice.
You might be asking by now why I titled this ‘A Blank Check’? That’s a question the Holy Spirit put in my heart a few weeks ago. “Would you give Me your life as a blank check?” Of course, that brought a lot of thoughtful self-assessment in my head. Yet, that’s exactly what Paul meant by his plea for us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. Giving anyone a blank check is a big deal and requires a huge trust in that person. I have only one individual outside my family I have ever trusted with a blank check. But note, this verse is talking about giving it to God—the Almighty God, our Creator, the All-powerful, our Savior—and trusting Him with our life as a blank check. How often have we all offered God control of our life, but with certain limitations? Or taken our offering back when we didn’t like the direction God was taking us.
The next verse is an essential element in this process. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Rom 12:2). Verse one is the act of commitment and verse two tells us how we maintain it. The world is constantly pressuring Christians to conform to its mold. Becoming a living sacrifice requires a continuous re-programming of our minds, which is a lifelong process. But this will bring proof to the world that God’s will is good and acceptable and perfect. We become the fragrance of Christ to those around us.
Sustaining Word for the Week: Give God a blank check this week. You can trust Him.