Presentation and sacrifice

The NET translation is the one I used to memorize Romans 12:1 & 2. It reads: "Therefore, I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a sacrifice--alive, holy and pleasing to God--which is your reasonable service. Do not conform to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you may test and approve what is the will of God--what is good, well-pleasing, and perfect."

What does it mean to be a sacrifice? It means I'll be giving up something, often precious. This is dying to self and what I want. In my case it can be sleep, food, or TV. I don't need to give them up completely because I need rest and nourishment, but it means to give up the "just five more minutes" the lazy self wants or the sugary choices in food instead of the healthy choices of fruit or veggies for a snack. It's not really denying myself anything, it's just denying the old man because he wants what's self-pleasing. Choosing healthy and discipline is really giving myself goodness. Choosing goodness helps my body to be truly alive and therefore a living sacrifice.

A holy sacrifice is where the TV comes in, or I should say, goes out. TV can be useful and can be entertaining in good ways, but it can also be unwholesome and worse. It can also simply be a time-waster for me and an escape when I want to do nothing. Laziness isn't holy. Choosing to not watch TV is only half of the story. To be holy, I need to fill my mind with holy thoughts or spend my time doing useful things. Holy thoughts come from scripture reading and studying or even reading stories of past saints who have faithfully served the Lord and persevered. Scripture memory helps keep the thoughts handy when needed for edification, encouragement, wisdom, and the like, when needed for myself or others. Useful things to do in my life would be daily chores that my fibromyalgia and arthritis like to keep me from. I can easily use them as excuses, but as I persevere and push a little, God aids me to carry on. There comes a time I must stop, but I can go a little farther than I sometimes want to. It's that extra mile that is the wise use of time. There are also things I can do during those times my body has to stop. I can still write or email words of encouragement to friends or offer prayers on their behalf.

As I fill my time with things like these and make healthy choices, I am using my body in ways that I believe God finds pleasing. The less I yield to my body's desires and yield more to the Spirit, I can rest assured that my sacrifice is alive, holy and pleasing. After all it is my reasonable service.

Reasonable service? Doesn't that mean that's the least I can do? It's reasonable. Not outstanding, not above the call, but is the call. Sounds exhausting if I think of myself doing it. It is a sacrifice to keep going, but by God's mercy, we don't have to do it alone. He not only calls us but equips us, but that's a whole 'nother verse!