What Does it Mean to Present Our Bodies a Living Sacrifice? • Deshen Daily

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service (Rom. 12:1 KJV)

Presenting our bodies as a living Sacrifice is more profound than an exhortation to holy living. This devotional will examine the keywords in this instruction to determine their meaning in this verse.

The idea of presenting a sacrifice takes us back to the Old Testament sacrifices, especially the burnt offerings. After these animals’ sacrifices were killed, their dead bodies were burnt for an aroma that, surprisingly, was pleasing to God during that dispensation.

But God wanted something better than dead animal bodies. Scripture tells us these sacrifices were only a shadow of the real thing to come; in fact, God Himself did not like them! Rather than dead animal bodies, He wanted living human beings. He fulfilled His desire when He sent Jesus:

“Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:” (Hebrews 10:5 KJV)

In the body, that is, as a human being living here on earth, Jesus “hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savor.” (Ephesians 5:2 KJV).

Jesus offered what the Father wanted, and as such, He is the fulfillment of the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament, including the sin and burnt offerings. Just as Jesus offered His whole life to do the will of His Father and do that which is pleasing to Him, so those in Christ are encouraged to yield themselves to the will and pleasure of Father.

Please note that presenting your bodies does not mean giving God some part of our biological body that is simply something “you have.” On the contrary, the word “body” refers to the totality of your being living here on earth in the body. In fact, in Romans 6, Paul uses a similar phrase that accurately captures what he says here—yield yourselves!

Therefore presenting your body as a living sacrifice means yielding your entire life to do that which brings Him delight and pleasure. For thousands of years, God put up with the burnt offerings under the Old Covenant waiting for you and me in Christ—the true worshippers He wanted!

Think through every word in Rom. 12:1 above as you ponder what it means and how it applies to you.

Your entire being here on earth is a living offering unto God. When Christ brought into Him, He made you like Himself—a pleasing sacrifice to God. Now, God commands us to live daily as living sacrifices: your whole life, including words, actions, thoughts, feelings, and physical body, should be given to do His will and pleasure.

Ask the Father to help you be a perpetual offering of praise, joy, separation, righteousness, etc., to Him every day.