Monday, March 10

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I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  - Romans 12:1

Most people hear the word “worship” and they immediately think of music and singing in church.  Similarly, most people hear the word “offering”, and they think of putting money in the plate in church.  Offering, not just our money, but our whole lives, is at the very heart of what it means to worship God.

Under the old covenant, the people of God were commanded to offer several different sacrifices to the Lord. We are all probably quite familiar with the burnt offering, which was given to turn away God’s wrath, and the sin offering, which was sacrificed in order to cleanse the worshipper from the defilement cause by their sin.  But there were also sacrifices of thanksgiving, given as an expression of the worshipper’s thanks for the Lord’s many blessings.

 When you sacrifice a thank offering to the Lord, sacrifice it in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf.   - Leviticus 22:29.

The sacrifice of thanksgiving is one that would have been part of our worship even if Adam never fell. Sin’s entrance into the world made the burnt offering, the sin offering, and, ultimately, the offering of Christ necessary for fellowship with God. Yet even in a sinless world, we would have been required to show the Lord thanks for all He has given to us. Thanksgiving is an essential part of true worship, and the failure to give thanks to the Lord is one of humanity’s gravest sins.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.  - Romans 1:21

How much more, then, should those of us who have been redeemed from sin offer sacrifices of thanksgiving to our Creator today? God has not dealt with His people as they deserve but has atoned for their sin and restored fellowship with them through His Son. A life offered to God in thanksgiving is the only proper response to His grace!

This is the point that the Apostle Paul makes in today’s passage.  Paul makes his appeal for us to offer ourselves fully to God on the basis of God’s mercy!  Since we have been saved through Christ, how should we respond?  Paul answers this question in Romans 12:1, and the first thing he tells us is that we should “present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God”. The kind of sacrifice the Apostle is talking about must be the sacrifice of thanksgiving, because Jesus already offered Himself up as the burnt offering, sin offering, and peace offering, the perfect sacrifice for our sake.

Every aspect of our lives is part of our worship. We worship from the moment our eyes open in the morning to the second they close at night. Worship is magnifying (or making much of) someone or something by our actions, thoughts or words. It is setting anything, be it God or anything else into the place of high prominence and authority in our lives. 

Oh God, we offer our whole selves to You today in gratitude and thankfulness for all that You have done for us, this is a true worship - Amen

Jeff Frazier