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.

TO PONDER

I think we can sometimes make the mistake of thinking of worship and sacrifice as a similar, if not the same, thing. After all, most of the gathering and worship in the Old Testament temple system centred around animal sacrifice. I want to offer us a different way to think about it.

Here in Romans 12, as in just about every other epistle he wrote, the apostle Paul begins his admonition by reminding his readers of what God has already done for them. This is the first thing I think we forget.

I can't tell you the number of people who, over the years, have explained their attendance at church every Sunday as part of their 'sacrifice' to God. That somehow missing out on a Sunday morning sleep in is a sacrifice that somehow impresses God and demonstrated their dedication to God. They speak of it in a way that sounds as if they expect something more from God because they 'turn up'. Paul is saying that's wrong. We don't turn up because we need to earn something from God, we turn up because of what he has already done.

Any time we have the attitude that we have to do something to "keep God happy" something is out of order in our thinking. We offer ourselves to God because of what he has already done for us. This is how we demonstrate to God our gratitude for what he has done. It is how we demonstrate the 'worth' (from worthship) which we place on what God has done and communicate that to those around us.

Being dedicated to God simply means to be set apart for His purpose, to put aside our own interests and selfish desires and allow him to be the one to set the direction and the agenda. That is how we worship him.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I know that my motives are often selfish. Sometimes even my involvement at church or other community groups is motivated more by what I get out of the arrangement that what I might contribute or provide for others. Please help me to grow in your understanding of what it means to serve and worship you with all of my life. Help me to make my life a living sacrifice to you in light of all that you have done for me. Amen

Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle