A Living Sacrifice

A Living Sacrifice

I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

Romans 12:1

The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.

Psalm 51:17

Don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.

Hebrews 13:16

Old Testament God-followers brought sheep, bulls, or pigeons to sacrifice on the altar as offerings to God. But God no longer requires the killing of animals as an expression of worship. The holy sacrifice that pleases God is a living person with a will that is surrendered to God. God wants us to offer our bodies—our whole lives—to him as living sacrifices.

Thinking about what happened to the animal sacrifices helps us understand more about what is being asked of us. When you are a living sacrifice, it means you are willing to die to the life you’ve been living. You want the will of God to be done in your life more than you want life itself. It means you are willing to go through the fire, to experience all that the altar represents—giving up yourself and your rights—for the one purpose of pleasing God. Being a living sacrifice means that you please God not through your death but in the way you live. It means you use the life God gave you, the personality and abilities God gave you to live all out for him.

Are you willing to place yourself on the altar as an offering, to become a living sacrifice? Ask God for the faith and courage you need to die to your desires and live for his. Offer yourself to him, saying, I’m yours. You can do whatever you want to do with me. This is pleasing sacrifice and holy surrender. This is what it really means to worship God.

DISCUSSION STARTERS

What do you think it would have been like to watch the sacrifices that were made in Old Testament times?

Why do you think God wants us as living sacrifices more than he wants animal sacrifices?

What kind of sacrifices could you make that would be acceptable to God?