RENEW YOUR MIND
Going Deep into Romans 12:1-2
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
- Romans 12:1-2 (NKJV)
"A Living Sacrifice"
An interesting pairing of words! Let's break this down.
The dictionary defines the word sacrifice as "an act of slaughtering an animal or person, or surrendering a possession as an offering to God." Slaughtering an animal or a person sounds more like a dead, or at least soon to be dead sacrifice!
This is what was commonly seen in the Old Testament, where God accepted the sacrifices of animals as a payment for sin. However, with the New Testament, God paid the ultimate sacrifice by sacrificing Himself, having become flesh in this world, walking among us as His Son Jesus, and ultimately being crucified.
The innocent Lamb of God, and His shed blood and death on the cross, was the once and for all payment for all of our sins, yesterday, today, and forever more! Praise our God!
So if God's sacrifice of Himself through Jesus' death on the cross was the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, why is there a need for more?
Rewinding to the Old Testament, before Jesus hung on the cross and said "It is finished" (John 19:30), even the Psalmist recognized the goodness of God, and was moved with a heart's plea to give to God in return. Psalms 116:12 questions, "What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits towards me?"
Great question! Fast forwarding back to the New Testament, John 15:13 provides a suggested offering, stating "greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." A very fitting suggestion!
We lay down our lives for Him as the greatest loving offering we can give, because He first laid down His life for us.
Though Galatians 2:20 states "I have been crucified with Christ", to be clear, God is not calling us to whip and mutilate ourselves as was done to Jesus in the crucifixion; but He is calling us to die to our flesh.
The Gospel writers of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all similarly report Jesus as having instructed that "if anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." (Luke 9:23, Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34)
Our big Brother Jesus demonstrated for us in the Garden of Gethsemane, a true sacrificial love for God the Father when He declared, "not my will but thine be done." (Matt. 26:39)
As we live our lives day to day, we lay aside our will for our own lives, in exchange for His will to be done. In this we demonstrate a living sacrificial gift in hopes to come close, but never fully repaying the price that He first paid for us.
We opened this devotional with a definition of the word sacrifice, the latter part defining it as "surrendering a possession as an offering to God". Your will for your life is your offering, in exchange for His will. As we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, we die on God's sacred altar, because Christ will take it from here. Christ lives His life through us, and only needs our surrendered bodies to do so.
Sounds like Galatians 2:20!
"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." - Galatians 2:20 (NKJV)