Greater Sacrifice | Day 16

Podcast Intro [00:00:00]:
Are you experiencing greater things in this season? We want to hear about it. Share your story at transformation at soulcitychurch.com.

Host [00:00:10]:
Welcome to the Greater Things daily devotional where we're asking the question, God, what is the greater thing you want to do in me and through me? So wherever you are, we invite you to quiet your soul and pray this ancient prayer after me. Come, Holy Spirit. This week, we're meditating on greater sacrifice and what that could look like in our lives. Today's devotional is out of Romans chapter 12 verse 1. It says, therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. Growing up, I played a lot of sports. Now, I was not the fastest or the strongest or the most skilled, but I was known for my hustle.

Host [00:01:27]:
I think that's normally what you say about kids who aren't particularly athletic, but it was true of me. I was not afraid to lay out, to get dirty, give 110% at any moment. More than my statistics or my skills, this is what my coaches would praise me for more often than not. They'd say things like, hey, way to put your body on the line for the team. Now at the beginning of Romans chapter 12, the apostle Paul is talking about what faith in action looks like. And he begins by instructing us to offer our bodies as, quote, living sacrifices to God. Now it's important to understand that here Paul is pulling imagery from the Old Testament, when people would give God a physical, literal offering, either by burning incense or even sacrificing some kind of animal. But but don't worry, Paul's not a or an animal, bring God your life.

Host [00:02:44]:
He's saying essentially what my coaches would say to me growing up, be willing to put your body, to put your life on the line. Again, not by dying, but actually by living. We become a living sacrifice in our lives when we start to view everything in our lives not merely as our own, but as something to be given to God so that God can use it for good. So being a living sacrifice means giving God our time. It means inviting God to inform and guide how you use your hours, minutes, and seconds, your days, weeks, your months, and your years. Being a living sacrifice, it means giving god your talents. It means taking the things that you are naturally good at and allowing God to use them in a supernatural way. Being a living sacrifice means giving God your treasure as well.

Host [00:03:41]:
Now, certainly, this means allowing God to lead the way in how we manage and give our finances, but it's also so much more than that. This actually applies to anything that we treasure, whether it be a physical resource or an intimate relationship. When we're a living sacrifice, we no longer view what is ours as ours alone, but we are willing to put it on the line. We offer it to God, believing that ultimately God can do far more with our time, our talent, or our treasure than we ever could. Now I understand all of this can sound pretty intense, but what we have to understand is that by asking for us to give our lives, God is not asking for anything that God has not already given to us. Because in Jesus, God gave God's own life for us. Jesus laid it all on the line so that you and I could experience forgiveness and transformation. And as followers of Jesus, we are invited to offer our lives right back.

Host [00:04:50]:
Because, again, God can do far greater things with them than we ever could. Now I invite you to pray this prayer after me. Father, I pause and welcome more of you. I slowly breathe in and breathe out to be fully present with you in this moment. Jesus, thank you for the sacrifice you gave so that I could have life. Help me to follow in your example and live as a living sacrifice. God, I give you my time. May you use it more wisely and more generously than I ever could on my own.

Host [00:05:55]:
God, I give you my talents. Make the gifts you've given me a gift to and for others. And God, I give you my treasure. What I have is not mine alone. May you use it as a tool for transformation. God, I give you my life. Accept me as a living sacrifice.