Today’s 333 Devotional: “Living Sacrifices”

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” (Romans 12:1)

A sacrifice is what we offer up to God, which is nothing less than the whole of ourselves.

As believers in Jesus Christ, we are told to present ourselves as “living sacrifices,” with the full understanding that there is no such thing as a partial sacrifice. We are either fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ, or we’re not. It’s impossible to be partially sacrificed.

There is a story about a pig and a chicken walking down a country road when they saw a sign saying, “Breakfast to Benefit the Poor.” The chicken said, “We should donate a ham and egg breakfast.” But the pig replied, “Not so fast, for you it would just be a contribution, but for me it would be a total commitment.”

The pig understood that it’s not possible to offer a partial sacrifice.

To be that living sacrifice is to commit ourselves to God, which means that we are to yield, surrender, and entrust ourselves totally to God, and place ourselves completely at His disposal.

When we look at these two words, “living” and “sacrifice,” they’re what is called an oxymoron, that is, a combination of two seemingly contradictory words. Yet, they are not in what God is calling for us to be, and therefore, it is important they remain together.

To be those living sacrifices means we are dead, not only to our own wants and desires, or to our own ways, but we are also and more importantly dead to sin, which means being totally sold out to God, that is, alive to God, fulfilling His will in our lives and in this world. Therefore, the ultimate sacrifice on our part isn’t death; rather it’s living 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year being completely surrendered to the will of God.