A LIVING SACRIFICE
 

“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. 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. 12:1 -2.

In the above verses we find the following words that would be good to look into more closely; because they are essential to our walk in Christ. The words are: present, bodies, living, sacrifice, holy world, mind, and prove.

1. PRESENT means, to introduce one person to another, or self to Christ, also make a gift to, and I give myself to you.

2. We know our BODY is the temple of God. The temple is the building in which God dwells. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” 1 Cor. 3:16

3. LIVING means, not dead, alive, active, moving and pulsating with life.

4. A SACRIFICE is an unselfish, giving up of one’s life. Matthew 16:25 says: “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” Matt. 16:25

5. HOLY — Set apart for the services of God. Be ye holy, for I am holy. It says, we are holy because we are the temple of God. 1 Cor. 3:17

6. WORLD — do not become one with the world. Forget the things of the world, as much as it is possible.

7. MIND — “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Rom. 8:6

8. PROVE — to demonstrate, to show the reality, to prove something is to bring it into manifestation, into being for people to see.

So, to become a living sacrifice, we first present, yield, and introduce our bodies, self, temple, as a gift to God, alive, not dead, pulsating with life, holy, pure, not being mindful of worldly things, having our mind renewed to prove the reality of God and Christ. To prove Christ means to bring forth Christ in our lives to be seen of all men. It is to bring a manifested reality, a proof to the world of His indwelling presence.

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” Psa. 51:17. Contrite means sorrowful, crushed.

Every sacrifice must be put on the altar to be burned by fire, so the sweet smelling savor can come forth. “For our God is a consuming fire.” Heb. 12:29

When we give ourselves as a living sacrifice and are consumed by the fire of God, the Glory of God will be seen, which is Christ. “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” Col. 1:27. I think we all know that the hope is Christ coming forth from us to be seen by all.

“...Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; He shall dwell on high: his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.” Isa. 33:14-17

We know the rock and the bread speak of Jesus, and water represents the Holy Spirit. When we see the beauty, we see His fulness. And the land speaks of His kingdom.

He that is laid on the altar, as a living sacrifice, will first live with the devouring fire, and then with everlasting fire — Praise God! The devouring fire will burn everything that is not of God. “Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” 1 Cor. 3:13-15

Now to dwell with everlasting burnings reminds me of the living sacrifice. The scripture says, “For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another. Mark 9:49-50

Salt in the natural realm makes thing’s taste better. But salt is a lot more than just to season our food. The salt of the sacrifice is called, the salt of the covenant of God; because in common life, salt was the symbol of covenant. The salt had the power to preserve from putrification and corruption. It imparted to the sacrifice the unbending truthfulness of that self-surrender to the Lord embodied in the sacrifice, by which, all impurity and hypocrisy were repelled. Without salt we will be corrupt and we will decay. The salt is used to preserve. Even in the olden days, salt was used to preserve food so it would not spoil.

Also, when fire is added to the salt, it brings forth a savor. The fire will consume that which is not of God; but the salt will preserve us so we will not burn up. This is to dwell with everlasting burnings.

It is like the burning bush in Exodus 3:2 — “...and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.”

So, is a living sacrifice. It will be alive. It will be burning with God fire. It will shine from within outwards for all to see. And “...because I live, ye shall live also.” John 14:19. In living we shall live.

As we look at all of this spiritually, it comes down to this:

A living sacrifice cannot and will not die! Amen!

Margit Hannelore Roach