Romans 12:1
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 worship.
Seeing certain things always makes us react. When we’re driving a wee bit too fast and see a cop, we hit the brake, hold our breath, and pray. When a child is doing something he shouldn’t and his parent walks in, his face turns pale and he stands very still. Seeing has an effect on us, and sometimes it’s even a good effect. At the end of a long training run, when I really want to stop, seeing the last downhill slope before home keeps me going. It actually makes me run a little faster because I know I’m almost done.
Romans has been like that long run for me. I’ve been studying it and, even though I know there are good things in the faith (like healthy benefits from a long run), it just feels hard at times because I know that I’m sometimes so far from what I what to be for the Lord. And then, at just the right time, I see something that causes a reaction in me. I see God’s mercy. I see the One who saved me and now wants to help me look even more like His Son.
Paul encourages us in this passage to see something that will cause us to sacrifice something. He has just finished a brutal stretch of writing (Romans 1-11) in which he has told the Romans that they all are sinners but that God’s mercy had saved them. Then he kicks off the last section of the book with this verse. Here’s why it matters:
Christianity can be hard at times, brutal in fact. There can be the feeling that no matter how hard we try, we’ll never be useful to the Lord. Just like a runner in the last few miles of a long run, you can easily begin to wonder if it’s been worth the hassle, and then, you see it. You see the goal or the last turn. You see God’s mercy and realize that no sacrifice you make, no pain on the journey, could make you not want more of that. With God, there is always a payoff, and I’m so thankful for that.
He isn’t a drill sergeant demanding you to perform meaningless tasks just to break you down. He doesn’t belittle you, or manipulate you, or guilt you into submission. Thankfully, He’s left that to the mother on Everyone Loves Raymond. Nope, God’s deal is this: “Look at my mercy. See the love I have for you and the price I paid for you and ask yourself if laying your life down as a sacrifice seems reasonable to you.”
As far as I’m concerned, my sacrifice pales in comparison.
