The Plumbline

So I beg you, brothers and sisters, because of the great mercy God has shown us, offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him—an offering that is only for God and pleasing to him. Considering what he has done, it is only right that you should worship him in this way. ( Romans 12:1   ERV ) How exactly does one offer their life as a living sacrifice to God? If we were to take this literally, one might think about needing to die as a martyr for God, as one might for a "good cause". If we were to merely think of this figuratively, one might reason it is some type of reference to the amount of time we spend at church, doing "work" for the church or community. While neither of these is bad, it isn't the intent of the passage. Paul is reminding the Roman church of how much God's grace has accomplished in their lives to deliver them from "religious pursuit" and from having to make all things right in their lives by their own effort. In other words, he ...