i pray...

Romans 12

1Therefore, 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 act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Ever had one of those days/ weeks/ months where God just seems to be drumming a passage of scripture into your head? A not so subtle message He is determined for you to hear. Well these past few weeks have left me saturated in this passage. Every bible study and sermon, every devotion, song, choice that I have to face, even pieces of random advice from people I respect have been rooted in these words. It fills my head and dominates my thoughts..

I want to be the living sacrifice described here. Such a spiritual act of worship is at the very least what God deserves from me. To not lay my time, my energy, my hopes, my dreams, my desires, my aspirations, and even my decisions, on the alter of sacrifice..to hold anything back would be an insult, an offense in view of what God has done for me. How we fool ourselves into thinking we owe God our lives when in fact we owe Him so much more. Sadly our meager existence, our everyday attempt at worship is all we can offer. We fall so far short of what 'a fair exchange' would be for the cross..and because we fall so far..God's grace is so profound, so undeserved..so amazing.

Know at least 5 friends who will understand this because they're in the same position.. I'm 25 years old. I had my own hopes and dreams, aspirations for this stage of my life. I wanted to be married maybe have kids..at the very least I wanted to be living in my own apartment, driving my own car, be in a relationship I could be certain would end in marriage. Right now I have none of these things. If I were to focus all my time and energy on pursuing them, maybe there's a chance I could have them in a short time but it would take a sacrifice. To gain these things i would have to offer my time, my energy, my hopes, my dreams, my aspirations on an alter...to myself. I would be offering my body as a living sacrifice..to myself. And if such an offering is a spiritual act of worship, then the pursuit of such things would be a declaration of worship..to myself. Am i worthy of worship? and wouldn't worship of myself be the equivalent of making myself an idol. To do these things in pursuit of my own wants and desires would be a 'living' sacrifice which should instead be offered to the Living God. Something i think God wants me to think about. God's Word says that " ..we know all things work together for the good to them who love Him...( Romans 8:28) ". He says "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.(Matthew 6:33) " I know God loves me and knows whats best for me. I know that if it was God's will, He'd give me these things in His time and it is not wrong to desire such things. But I also know that to desire them to the point that they take the place of my worship to God and replace them with the worship of self, is wrong. God must come first. Its His rightful place in our lives. Maybe He will add these things to us when we learn to offer Him our living sacrifice, to offer Him ourselves.

My uncle once preached a sermon on God's will and i remember Him saying this profound statement: "From the moment we are born we are dying. The same thing that you are so busy living for, is in fact the thing you're dying for. Make sure that what you live for is worth dying for."

I pray we learn to give God His rightful place in our lives. I pray we learn to offer Him our living sacrifice, because He alone is worthy. I pray we not only recognise the cause of Christ as a cause worth dying for, but a cause worth living for. May we offer Him each and everyday, every breath and every heartbeat. May He take us to the point where we hold nothing back.