Journal Entry # 5 – Living Sacrifices

The following is a entry from one of my old journals. I have felt like I should share them with you all, hoping that you may be blessed by from them, but that I too would receive something by looking at what God has taken me through.

I hope you are blessed!

Living Sacrifices

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.  -Romans 12:1-2

The previous passage is definitely one of my favorites. The verses really give us some great direction on what we need to do with our lives; be living sacrifices. In those times, a sacrifice was usually the death of one thing in place of another, but a LIVING sacrifice is a life a living for the one that was given in exchange for it. Romans 12:1-2 reminds us not to live by the world’s standards, but by God’s. And the only way we can do that is by being renewed in our minds.

The passage really ties into Galatians 2:20, which states: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”.  Since Jesus Christ sacrificed himself for us, the best act of worship we can give back is by living our lives for Him…Living for Jesus.

Romans 12 ends with a short, simple, yet power command: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” -Romans 12:21

The world, sin, and the devil are the evil….The good is Jesus. He is our key to overcoming evil. So we need to allow him to live through us by simply living for Him. That is how we can be a Living Sacrifice.