A Living Sacrifice

Present your bodies a living sacrifice . . . your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world.

Romans 12:1–2

We Christians are not to be conformed to the world physically. These bodies of ours are intended to be temples of the Spirit of God. We are not to prostrate them before the temples of Baal. We are to present them wholly to God as a “living sacrifice.” Our dress, our posture, our actions, should all be for the honor and glory of Christ. We are to be “holy” in the deepest sense of the word.

God’s purpose for us is that we ought to be conformed to the image of His Son. The world may exert its pressure to deform us, but we are told, “Be ye transformed . . . that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2).

On the cover of your Bible and mine appear the words, “Holy Bible.” Do you know why the Bible is called holy? Why should it be called holy when so much lust and hate and greed and war are found in it? I can tell you why. It is because the Bible tells the truth. It tells the truth about God, about man, and about the devil. The Bible teaches that we exchange the truth of God for the devil’s lie about sex, for example, and drugs, and alcohol, and religious hypocrisy.

Jesus Christ is the ultimate truth. Furthermore, He told the truth. Jesus said that He was the truth, and the truth would make us free. It is in this freedom that we are to “present our bodies a living sacrifice.”

Our Father and our God, change me from self-serving to self-sacrificing. Teach me how to present myself daily in full surrender and service to You and Your people. Freely You have given Your Son to me; freely let me give His grace and love to others. In His strength and power I pray. Amen.

Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).