“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 act of worship” (Romans 12:1
NIV).
We are presently in the season of Lent, for
those Christians who follow this tradition. Many Christians give up something
as a sacrifice to God during this time. I know people who give up chocolate,
coffee, pop, goodies, watching television, etc. during this time as an act of
self-denial to honor what Christ did on the cross for us. I don’t see anything
wrong in this as we all could use some self-denial in our lives.
But to take it a step
further would be even more of a sacrifice. Why not save the money you would
spend on coffee, goodies, pop, etc. and give it to a charity or to the poor. I
think that would be even more of blessing to you and to others, and it would
truly help you to be a servant of God. That would be a true sacrificial act.
God wants us to serve others and to show
them His love by giving to others by acts of service or a donation of money.
There are so many people who have needs. It is not enough for us to say, “I
actually gave up chocolate for the whole period of Lent.” Just think how more
wonderful it would be if you could say, “I gave a family a gift certificate at
the grocery store for food with the money I saved from giving up chocolate
during Lent.”
You
see God wants you to be a living sacrifice, which means you are to sacrifice yourself
some way. Go out of your way to help others in a sacrificial attitude. As you
see from the above verse that this is your spiritual act of worship. This is
how you truly worship God. It is not by sitting around saying, “I love the
Lord”, but it is doing something to show others His love. Even the demons
believe in God, “You believe that there is one God, Good! Even the demons
believe that—and shudder” (James 2:19 NIV). Paul goes on to say, “You see that
a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone” (James 2:24 NIV).
So if you are giving up something for Lent,
also do something sacrificial and give something to others. Then God will truly
be pleased. If you don’t give up something for Lent, then I urge you still to
help someone as a sacrificial act of worship. You will be blessed and you will
bless others.
Dear Lord,
I know that just giving up
something for Lent is not enough of a sacrifice to you. I know that I must be a
living sacrifice every day of my life so that my life will portray the kind of
love Jesus showed us when He willingly gave His life for me.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
