Tuesday, March 24, 2020

We Are Sacrificed On the Altar of Your Will- God.


We must present ourselves to God as if we were offering Him the sacrifice of ourselves.  We are no stranger to sacrifice, are we? Surely there have been things in life you've had to sacrifice for one reason or another, yes? Some make sacrifices in their lives of such seeming great importance they can never stop thinking about it- through regret. Some start the mind crippling cycle of - if only I hadn't had to give that up- do you know where I'd be today? My life would have been so much better if I hadn't had to sacrifice that, for that reason. Obviously people fill in the blanks for their own personal sacrifices.

Some sacrifice their time, giving their services to others. Some sacrifice their possessions, giving what is theirs to another at a loss to themselves.

Sacrifice is what? According to the dictionary sacrifice can mean- giving up something valued, the loss involved in giving up something valued, offering to God to appease God. Now, I'm not sure I have to agree with the last one when we are speaking of God, our Heavenly Father. Yes, sacrifices were needed- ritual animal sacrifices were made all the time before our Savior sacrificed Himself. The animal sacrifices were made to symbolize the need for the death of an innocent for the sins of the people. A wrong was committed and in order to right that wrong there needed to be an atonement made, a sacrifice given in order to preserve the eternal life of the one offering the sacrifice. When we accept the sacrifice of our Savior, we accept that He suffered and died in our place so that we could be atoned, and become one with God again.

We need to become LIVING sacrifices. Christ Jesus died so we could become a living sacrifice offering God our LIVES while we live, to do with AS HE WILLS.  And if some make the mistake of believing it is not a sacrifice it truly is because you are giving up a worldly life. You are giving up the self-serving that we are so incredibly prone towards.

God will give us all we need to be a living sacrifice for Him. The spirit that God gives us will be one that counts everything loss, but serving God. The power of God, the power of God's love, the power to be whole in our minds for God, this is what we are given.  We choose to give up self-serving, and lay ourselves on the altar of God's will.  Please, Lord, let us live to this end- to be wholly YOURS.

All through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior! Always!

2Ti 1:7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 
Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 
Rom 12:3  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. 


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