God's Will For My Life-Part II

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)


In Part I of this devotional series of how we can know God's will for our lives, we looked at the first part of the verses of Romans 12:1.  We learned that we are to: 

1.     "Present your bodies a living sacrifice," 

But before we can do this, we must have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, because we cannot give our bodies to him without giving Him our soul first.

Before I go any farther here, there are a couple of things that we need to know that will help us understand our propensity to sin, and that will help us with our new commitment to use our bodies righteously.  While it is true that our bodies are the houses that our souls live in, that is not all that lives within these bodies.  Our bodies are also the residence for our emotions, our will, and the evil desires of our flesh that tempt us to sin.  Paul talks about this in Romans 7.

For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. Romans 7:5 (NKJV)

We can't keep the bits and pieces of sin from living in our fleshly bodies, but we can that sin from ruling and dominating us with the power that the Lord has given us through The Holy Spirit. 

We do this by getting rid of, or "casting down" any conversation or argument that comes against the truth and knowledge of God and His Word.  We do this by taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (See 2Cor 10:5).  This simply means that if we have a thought popping through our mind, we need to ask ourselves, 

Is this what Jesus would do?  
Is this what He would want me to do?  
Is this something that would be condoned in His Word?

If it isn't, then get rid of it, and replace it with something that is (See Phil 4:8).  So in Part I we talked a little about presenting our bodies as a "living sacrifice."

As I stated before, in Old Testament atonement, the Levitical priests made sacrifices on behalf of God's people.  These sacrifices consisted of animals that were killed as an offering for the temporary atonement of the sins committed by God's people.  

We no longer do this because Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, was offered as a sacrifice for the sin of the 

Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Hebrews 9:12; 10:10 (NKJV)

So knowing what a traditional sacrifice was in the OT, we must ask ourselves:

Q:    What does it mean to be a "Living Sacrifice?"

A:    The "Living Sacrifice" that God wants from us, His children--those who know and who have accepted that Christ died for them--is for us to willingly give up our earthly hopes, our desires, our earthly plans; everything that is treasured by us, and everything that is important to our lives, and that we find fulfilling to us.

The Apostle Paul had it figured out when he said that he needed to "die daily" (See 1Cor15:31). That is why he could make the statement, "To live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Phil 1:21).

Jesus already laid down His life so we might have life, and life more abundantly.  There is nothing else that we can add to what He did on the Cross to assure us of this.  All that we can do in response to this act of love is to present ourselves as living sacrifices.  When we do this, we will be blessed beyond measure.  We will be given perfect peace (See Isa 26:3), and others will see this and want to know Him.  

Hey Christian, once we come to the full realization that we are here for just a just a short time on earth living in these bodies (Temporary tents), and that we have eternity ahead of us to look forward to, we will willingly lay down our wants and desires that these bodies crave.  You know it isn't really much of burden to be a living sacrifice when we realize that the only things we are really sacrificing are those things that don't have any real value.  All that we are laying down is the sin, and our sinful desires.  Besides, all those things brought us were death.  

I want to encourage you today to stay focused on the things of Heaven and not on the things of this earth. God wants to use you--will you let Him?

In Part III of this series, we will take a look at what it means to be "Holy" and "Acceptable to God."


STUDY QUESTION: According to Hebrews 9:12, and 10:10, what have we been given eternal redemption by?

PERSONAL INVENTORY: Are you willing to be a "Living Sacrifice" for God?

APPLICATION: Lay down anything and everything that is hindering you in your walk with God.  Make a list of the things that you put ahead of God in your life.  This list will consist of what you place your greatest desires, and spend most of your free time doing.