Welcome to today’s devotion.
Today I will like all of us to meditate on Rom 12:1. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and
pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship” (Rom 12:1).
During the Old Testament’s times, when Israel worship the Lord God at the Temple. They had to bring animal sacrifice to the Temple of the Lord continually. It was costly to the people because they had to bring the animals to be sacrificed. True worship is always costly. Let me explain why. The blood of the animal was a symbol of atonement for the sins of the people.
In the book of Exodus, on the night when God delivered Israelites out of Egypt, every household was commanded by Moses to kill a lamb. That night the destroying angel went to every Egyptian household to kill the first born, but at Israelites’ house where the door post had been sprinkled by the blood of the lamb, the angel passed over it and not enter. That was the first Passover.
This event underline how costly it is for the Israelites to be delivered out of the slavery of Egypt. It further points to the ultimate sacrifice who is the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the Lamb of God.
Two thousand years ago, God sent his Son Jesus Christ to come as the Passover Lamb to sacrifice him on the cross to redeem and save us from sin and death. Our salvation is costly, it costs God his only begotten Son. And hence, we know now why true worship is always costly.
We ask the question, Is there still the offering of sacrifices today? Some will say no. But others say yes. They are both right.
Today even although we do not go to a physical Temple to worship God and also bring animals for sacrifice, but the Bible tells us that our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. So we bring our bodies as living sacrifices to offer to God as our spiritual worship.
Rom 12:1 tells us that that we live our lives in such a way that we offer our bodies holy and acceptable worship to God. We do this as our response in gratitude for what Christ has done on the cross for us.
Next, many modern day believers tend to compartmentalize their spiritual worship.
They think that the only time we worship God is when we are attending church service, cell group, or doing spiritual activities like singing praise songs, pray and read the Bible.
In view of Rom 12: 1 We need to change that thinking.
Most of us spend majority of our time at work or carry out responsibilities as home makers. Does that mean that we do not worship God during those times when we are not involved in the so called religious activities?
When we are working, we should do it as an act of worship. When we are spending time with our families, friends and recreation we should so as our worship to God. This should also apply to the rest of our lives. For example, how we spend our time, our money and energy.
And also remember that we should forsake all worldly and sinful habits or activities that are not pleasing to a holy God. Because you want to offer your entire life as a worship to Him.
In conclusion, let us offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. Let our worship be every day and every moment of our lives. Whether we are at work, at rest, or at play. We want to be pleasing to God because of His great love for us. May we give him all our praise and glory. Amen.
