Sacrifice!

Sacrifice!

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. Romans 12:1 NIV

There is a place for judgement and a place for mercy. God is the dispenser of both, and by His nature, He has the prerogative on how to and when to dispense both. This is the reason why God is to be feared: the things I consider important may not be viewed as such by God, and the things I would naturally treat with levity may have eternal consequences. This is the foundation of today's extract. 

We speak so lovingly of God as a merciful God, which is quite true. It is because of that mercy that the call of today's extract makes sense: while you have mercy, give your life totally to God. While you still can, give God your all. Mercy isn't deserved, but when it comes, it demands sacrifice from you. There are new priorities, new aspirations, new goals, all based on the new relationship you have been called to. 

The demand under this new relationship is one of sacrifice. It has to be total, absolute and irreversible. As long as I still have some measure of control over my life, I am not ready. As long as I can dictate terms and conditions, I am not ready. Have you ever seen any animal already offered as a sacrifice still having an opinion? Have you seen a lamb to be offered as a sacrifice dictating the terms of the sacrifice? We have become so full of ourselves that we want to tell God how best He can work in our favour, not the other way around. 

The sacrifice must be holy for it to be pleasing to God. It is not something done by accident; it is the result of total submission to God, a realisation of our need of Him, and a daily dependence on His help. God WILL NOT accept anything less than his standard of holiness and He will not lower the standard because He needs numbers. For all the people, few or many, who will seek God out on His own terms, and align themselves with the terms of the covenant of life God is seeking to enter with us, they will see God at work in and for them. If you want it, you have got to live it. His time of favour is here.