Romans 12:1 - A living sacrifice

Let's be honest does that even sound like something to get excited about? A living sacrifice??? No I didn't think so either. In the 29 years of being a Christian I have never been partial to this verse... It doe's not fit into my picture of living the American dream. What we want is a life of ease, not sacrifice. A life of plenty, not sacrifice, A life of excess actually if we are honest, not anything remotely like sacrifice. No matter how you view the word sacrifice, no matter which definition you choose it is not necessarily something I was comfortable with in my life.

This morning this verse was a part of my devotions. I stumbled over it... even reading it caused me to stutter. I however decided I needed to pray about it and meditate on it to get a better understanding of it in relationship to my First Place 4 Health program. (that is the devotional I was working on at the time) I decided it was time to "face the music" so to speak. So on went my walking shoes and out the door I went to "Walk with God" and listen to Him a bit.

here is the results of that time...

I asked God to help reveal to me what the truth was in this verse I needed to figure out and apply to my life. He brought to mind that for far too many years, after reading this verse for the first time, All I could focus on when reading it was the "Holy and acceptable to God" part of the verse. I knew I was not holy and could not figure our a way to be holy. So I knew I would never be acceptable. So I felt helpless... As the years past I knew that presenting my body as a living sacrifice meant I needed to do a bit of sacrificing... sacrificing on the portions sizes and sacrificing on my time spent "relaxing" and get moving... yet, since no matter what, I could not figure out how to be holy... well what was the point, so I would "skip" over this verse each time I read Romans. Which I must admit was not often. I really liked to just skip over the whole book... honestly I got mad at Paul the first time I read Romans and "heard" Paul say... "I do not do the things I want to do instead I do the very things I hate" i thought if even this great man of God cannot do the right thing then what hope is there for me? So I just got frustrated whenever I would read Romans so... well... I just did not read it! How arrogant I was when I was younger... whew! unfortunately this thinking kinda stuck... I will confess I still just kind of "skim" though Romans. or pick out verses that I think apply to a specific situation. (must be time to do a complete study on Romans) Anyway, back on topic... I was walking and seeking answers from God and realized that this thinking from when I was younger about not being holy and then not wanting to "sacrifice" anything especially my favorite foods and my "comfort" led to the enemy telling me I was a failure, always would be a failure and I believed his lies... I have not consciously thought that in years, but this is part of the wrong thinking deeply embedded in my brain. Thinking that needs to be rooted out and tossed in the trash heap since it is trash! trash the enemy has filled my head with. Truth is... No I am not Holy, can never be holy in and by myself. It is only through Christ. it is His holiness that God sees when He looks at me. I will sin, I will make mistakes, I have a sin nature that will never go away until I pass over into eternity. However, I need to strive to allow God to continue to transform me each and every day. I need to understand I cannot do it! I cannot make myself holy, I cannot make myself acceptable to God in anyway other than to submit to Him. Surrender all of my life to Him. Surrender my wants and desires even my battles. I need to allow Him to fight them. Allow Him to give me the strength to get up and get moving each morning, allow Him to give me the strength and the ability to say no and mean it when offered something that is unhealthy for me. Allow Him to direct my path away from the chips or the ice cream or what ever isle in grocery store holds the most temptation for me this week. He can and He will. He also will provide for me healthy and flavorful and amazing treats that will strengthen me physically, emotionally and mentally while He builds me up in the spiritual. He will be faithful to fulfill ALL of His promises to me if I allow Him to. He will walk with me to help me get moving. He will be in the gym with me cheering me on. He will share truth with me and help me pull the lies out of my mind that are wrapping their roots deeply into my subconscious mind and making me feel so defeated. He will encourage me and build me up in His loves me and delights in healing the emotions that have been trampled on by so many. He and He alone can and will heal my broken places, help me to let go of my bad habits, and throw away the hangups that have immobilized me for so many years. I CANNOT DO IT!!!! only HE CAN!!!! I need to quit trying to do His job, and instead get out of His way giving Him permission to do the work necessary to make me healthy.

God is so AWESOME.... I will continue to bask in the repair work He is so faithfully doing in my life! I pray that you are allowing Him to do some in your life as well...

Blessings,