True and proper worship

by    4 responses

Romans 12:1

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

If you’re a regular reader of Crossring’s Daily Readings, you’ll probably know by now that I’m easily irritated by trivialities. One triviality that winds me up is the nonsensical way that sports stars, particularly football players, speak. They all seem to fall into cliché mode as soon as they open their mouths. Their talk of football being “a game of two halves” sets my blood boiling, as does their frequent statement that “at the end of the day, the best team won.” As for the claim that “when all is said and done, I gave 110 per cent, and I couldn’t give any more than that,” well, that has me shouting at my television. How can you give 110 per cent? It’s absurd!

Well, in today’s verse, Paul is telling us, members of the church of Christ, to give everything we have to serving Jesus. We can’t give 110 per cent, but we can give 100, and that’s what Paul urges us to do.

God has shown us an extraordinary amount of mercy. He loves us so much that he gave his only son to us. Jesus loves us so much that he died in our place, so that we could be reunited with God, cleansed of our sin, and made right with our heavenly father. At the most basic level, Jesus died for us. That is incredible, and surely demands a response.

The response that Paul encourages us to give is to “offer our bodies as a living sacrifice” to God. In the days of the old covenant in the Old Testament, to sacrifice something to God was to renounce your claim to the object, and to give it wholly over to God. That’s what Paul tells us to do with our bodies.

In recognition of all that God has done for us, we should renounce our claim to our own bodies. We should no longer seek self-gratification, but rather should give our whole being, body, mind and soul, to serving God. That is quite a demand to make, but if we love God, giving our lives to him will not be a hardship, but a pleasure and a joy. Serving God at times can be hard, particularly when we find ourselves facing opposition, but the knowledge that we are living for Christ, sharing the gospel, striving to love others and, above all else, loving God, far outweighs any negative aspects of living for God.

As we begin a new week, why not rededicate your life to Christ? Why not pray to God, “yes, Lord, I’m here, take my body, I offer it to your service”? As Paul says, this is your true and proper worship!

4 Responses

  1. Martin Laker
    August 22, 2011 at 6:27 am

    Great reading to start the week and refresh our commitment to giving our all.

    Thanks.

    Reply
  2. Tara B.
    August 22, 2011 at 8:41 pm

    I really needed this today because I haven’t been spending time with God as I should have. I have really lapsed and that is not good at all. So, this scripture and daily reading is a perfect time to rededicate my life to God.

    Thank you!

    Reply
  3. Simon Lucas
    August 23, 2011 at 12:44 am

    Glad you found today’s reading helpful, Tara. Will be praying that you manage to find time to spend with God in the days ahead!

    Reply
    • Tara B.
      August 24, 2011 at 6:01 am

      Thank you so much, Simon! :)

      Reply

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Simon is a teacher, writer and preacher based in London in the United Kingdom. Simon enjoys sailing, and is a keen geocacher. Simon is married to Claire.

About Daily Readings

As part of our active lifestyle of prayer and Bible reading, we are currently reading a small section of the Bible together each day and sharing our responses to it with each other. We also publish a short devotional thought on a key verse or two from each day's passage to prompt prayer or reflection.

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