OUR DAILY BREAD : LIVING SACRIFICE

[cimi]

July 14
Monday


LIVING
SACRIFICE

READ:
Romans 12:1-8
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Present your bodies a
living sacrifice.
__Romans 12:1
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When my son Steve left home in the summer of 2006 to join the US Navy, he knew the gravity of his decision. He understood that once he walked onto that naval base for boot camp, he was giving up everything a teenager lives for. He was leaving behind his freedom, his guitars, his music, and his girlfriend. He surrendered the right to make his own choices and to do what he wanted to do. He said, in effect, "I am making myself a living sacrifice. I no longer do things for me; i do them for the service of my country."

The sacrifice Steve and thousands of others make when they enter the military service reminds me of what the apostle Paul taught in Romans 12:1. In that passage, he urged us "to present [our] bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." This means we are to give up our selfish ways and surrender ourselves completely to God. We are to seek to be "holy" in all we do__to have a godly character (1 Peter 1:16), which is acceptable to God.

It wasn't easy for Steve, who cherished self-determination, to give it all up for the Navy. But he did it. And it isn't easy for us to completely surrender our will to God. How can you and I be a living sacrifice for God today? __Dave Branon
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```````````````````Here is my heart, Lord Jesus,``````````````````
``````````````````````I have but one for thee;```````````````````
```````````````````Oh, let my heart be Thine alone,```````````````
```````````````````Thy will be done in me. __Mick````````````````
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A life given fully to God
is at the heart of true sacrifice.

****************Today's Bible Reading __ Romans 12;1-8***********

1 I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of
God, that you present your
bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable to God,
which is your reasonable
service. 2 and do not be
conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that
you may prove what is that
good and acceptable and
perfect will of God.

3 For I say, through the
grace given to me, to
everyone who is among
you, not to think of himself
more highly than he ought
to think but to think
soberly, as God has dealt to
each one a measure of faith.

4 For as we have many
members in one body, but
all the members do not have
the same function, 5 so we,
being many, are one body
in Christ, and individually
members of one another.

6 Having then gifts differing
according to the grace that
is given to us, let us use
them: if prophecy, let us
prophesy in proportion to
our faith; 7 or ministry, let
us use it in our ministering;
he who teaches, in teaching;

8 he who exhorts, in
exhortation; he who gives,
with liberality; he who
leads, with diligence; he
who shows mercy, with
cheerfulness.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

The apostle Paul urges us to present our bodies as living sacrifices
(Rom. 12:1). A Christian's body is the temple of the Holy spirit
(1 Cor. 6:19-20). The word body represents the totality of one's life
and activities. __Dennis Fisher