"We've just established the excellence of God's knowledge and wisdom concerning His plan for the whole world. So now, please, I'm begging you, act as a rational person and give God your body. Not only will He take great pleasure in having you all to Himself, but in getting a break from the world you'll also get a fresh perspective on the stunning perfection and wisdom of His excellent plan for you."
~ Paul, Romans 12:1-2 (author's paraphrase)
~ Paul, Romans 12:1-2 (author's paraphrase)
Romans 12:1 is usually translated with the words "offer your bodies as living sacrifices." In the Old Testament method, a sacrifice that meant the body of an animal died. For us, it means that our souls are more alive when we give our bodies to God.
As regular readers know, I've recently come out of a time when I struggled to bring myself to God. It's not that I didn't want to crawl up on the altar and give myself up. Rather, I was aware that the Lord asks for an unblemished sacrifice—the best we have to offer—and awareness of my sinful failings made me feel completely out of place as anything worthy to offer Him.
Silly, mistaken me.
Our Father in Heaven sees as unblemished those who have the protection of Jesus' blood. We're not going to become more worthy of God on our own. Christ's blood has already made us perfect in His Father's eyes.
There's a very good reason God wants your body and mine. God is Light, and any light needs something to hold it or reflect it, at least in our physical world. (Even daylight is held by the sun and reflected off the moon and planets at nighttime.) Although God is evident in other parts of creation, humans crown creation as God's image, and He most wants to be manifest in us—in our bodies.
He wants freedom to transform us from plain clay pots into magnificent vessels of His Light ...
... in our eyes as we take note of others.
... in our ears as we listen to others.
... in our hands as we serve others.
... in our words as we encourage others and praise Him.
... in our feet as we persevere with Him.
... in our faces as we shine with His countenance.
... in our hearts as we give His love to others—and return His love to Him.
Pick any body part. God's got a way to make it beautiful with His Light when it's offered to Him.
"Don't be afraid to give up the good for the great."
~ Kenny Rogers
~ Kenny Rogers
This post is part of a blog carnival hosted by Peter Pollock. You're invited to visit his site and see what others are saying about today's theme: Sacrifice
"God Wants Your Body" is also the title of a message by Christian comedian and preacher Ken Davis on Romans 12:1. His materials are available at KenDavis.com.
Comments, questions, and respectful disagreement are welcome. Reply to BuildingHisBody.com comments, or e-mail buildingHisbody [plus] @gmail.com
Copyright 2011, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
Washed clean, we are purified. And what he sees is what he created us to be. Beautiful, Anne.
ReplyDeleteI was trying to convey this point as I was teaching my kids about healthy food and non-healthy foods yesterday...helping them to see how important it is to take care of the one body we're given.
ReplyDelete~ Wendy
Glynn ~
ReplyDeleteThanks! :D
Wendy ~
ReplyDeleteI try to teach my kids to take care of things, but especially when they're borrowed and belong to someone else. Perhaps if we really saw our bodies as on loan from God, we'd take better care of them.
We can never make ourselves worthy. So true. How kind and generous that He sets His love on us anyway and chooses us as Him image bearers. Thanks for these encouraging thoughts, Anne.
ReplyDeleteJeanne ~
ReplyDeleteI don't know that I've heard that thought with those particular words: He sets His love on us. It gives me a mental picture of a Father gently laying a blanket across His child. And that image makes me think of the verse in Psalms which says He wraps Himself in Light, as with a garment. I wonder how little difference there is between bearing His light and bearing His love.
And it's those cracked pots that best pour the light.
ReplyDeleteSnady! The lightbulb just went on! You've just illuminated me on how little distinction there is between broken vessels, cracked pots, and crackpots!
ReplyDeleteYes, He has made us worthy! To identify a part of the body, I have envisioned my self as the liver. I am a liver for Jesus. Yet we are continually being transformed into His Image.
ReplyDeleteHazel Moon ~
ReplyDeletePerfect! And since the liver is a purifier of the body and light is also a purifier, the metaphor could not be more suitable! :D
Isn't it cool that the Lord sees us purified through Jesus' blood? Hard to imagine! Awesome thoughts, Anne!
ReplyDeleteLynn ~
ReplyDeleteAs soon as I was able to wrap my mind around the fact that the Lord truly sees us as unblemished sacrifices, it completely changed the freedom I felt to approach Him. Very cool indeed! Thanks for being here. : )
He can have it. I haven't been able to do much with it myself. ;)
ReplyDeleteTana ~
ReplyDeleteHow you make me laugh! And how I love you.
And I think He's doing plenty with you. ; )
...now this was/is a tough one to weigh in on as you very well know,sis:) having a bit of controversy with our Father about it too.
ReplyDeleteBud ~
ReplyDeleteI'm grateful that you brought the older, similar post to my attention. I've known for weeks that today's post would be about understanding that we are not blemished sacrifices. When I saw the other "God Wants Your Body" post, I decided to bring in some of the same thoughts here.
I don't think we'll stop wrestling off the altar, being completely dead to self and alive in Christ, before the day we see His face. We nonetheless persevere for the goal He has set before us.
Beautiful post, Anne. I loved the ending where you mentioned the body parts, and it made me think of how we are also compared to body parts as a church, Jesus being the head. Nice imagery.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post. Thank you, Anne. Be blessed as you bless others!
ReplyDeleteCris ~
ReplyDeleteThanks! I often wonder if we can even call the object lessons from God "metaphor" when they are so real and strong.
Mari-Anna ~
ReplyDeleteThank you for being here. May God's blessing be returned to you with its full weight.
So was encouraged by reading this INCLUDING all the comments! What a blessing!
ReplyDeleteLoni ~
ReplyDeleteSo happy to have you stop in. I'll not soon forget the powerful story of sacrifice on your own blog.