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.
First of all, it all begins with God. The way we live our lives is a response to His great love for us displayed in the cross. We bring nothing to the table and are hopeless apart from His mercy and grace. Sit down and read the early parts of Romans to see just how wretched and desperate a state man is in apart from Christ!
So, in light of that incredible mercy and grace, we're to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. Now in the Old Testament there were plenty of sacrifices, and even in the pagan religions of Paul's day there were many sacrifices as well. However, one of the key characteristics of a sacrifice was that it was killed - in other words it was completely given over to the object of its sacrifice. So a living sacrifice is almost a contradiction in terms, and yet it perfectly displays the idea behind living for Christ.
We are to daily die to self and commit our living to the One who died for us (see 2 Corinthians 5:14-15). It really is the only logical thing to do! Paul goes on to say this in the rest of the verse. The word translated here as "worship" is also sometimes rendered as "service" and together they give us a greater picture of what it means to worship God. It's not simply the act of singing songs but rather the service of sacrificial living.
So let's worship our great and mighty God today by living lives of sacrifice for Him! In light of His amazing grace and mercy in our lives, it's the only logical thing for us to do!!
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