Body & SoulSample

A Living Sacrifice

Bodies that are not understood will cry out to constantly be changed. This is because they do not understand their intrinsic value. What is internal will eventually come out in behavior. What has been done to us externally will go inward. It becomes a cycle, as body and soul cannot be separated. More and more, our painful experiences are coming out in experimentation on our bodies.

God deeply loves us all. We are all made imago Dei, and God cares for every one of His creation. For His children, those of us who not only image God in our creation but also image Christ in our personal relationship with Him, we are not alone in this fight. It is not up to us to figure ourselves out. We have a complete blueprint in the Word for who we are and what we were created for and where it’s all gotten confused along the way.

Our lives and our bodies are meant to bring glory to God and to point others to Him. We are His temple, housing the Holy Spirit, and He is our Helper. When we are tempted in any way, it is not beyond His ability to help us. We can say no to our fleshly desires, not to be seen as powerful or strong in and of ourselves or to bring our abilities glory, but to show that He makes it possible to do that which we cannot. We don’t live by a strict law to perform and nitpick our food or body movement or even choices in our purity. We live in freedom.

This is a lifestyle of consecration, and you were created for it.

Your standards for eating, drinking, moving, sexual purity, serving, giving, loving, and absolutely everything in your life will reflect the consecrated life.

By simple definition, to be consecrated is to be set apart for the service of God; to devote to a purpose. The reality is, many of us have seen our lives’ purpose as one thing: what God wants to do with our lives, goals, life mission, using our gifts, and we see our bodies’ purpose (going to the gym, going on a diet, looking a certain way, performing specific tasks, etc.) as quite another.

But God never makes that distinction. Because of the integration of the body and soul, our life purposes and being consecrated to God all go together.

It’s important to remember what it’s really about—this holy consecration: being set apart and God being with us to help us as we make choices in life. We are not being left out here on our own to try to get it together. This is crucial because a lot of us have felt so lost and so alone for a long time.

Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God” (CSB).

All parts of this verse are crucial, and please don’t gloss over it even if you’ve read it a hundred times. This is a daily sacrifice, not like the Old Testament days but of our whole selves to Christ. We no longer do what we want when we want. We no longer do just what we feel in the moment. This is a countercultural idea. But it’s the way we are able to live well.

This is truly where body and soul, life purpose, all of it comes together. Want to know God’s will for your life? Give your whole self every day over to Him. Trust Him with your eating, drinking, sexual life, thought life, body frustrations and struggles. Those emotions and anxieties and past guilt? Give it all up to Him too. Live consecrated, in a clean vessel, as a living, breathing sacrifice of a life completely yielded to Him and always defer to His plan and desires, no matter what.

Read Romans 12:1-2, and consider areas of your life you’ve not fully surrendered to the Lord. Confess your need for Him and commit to living a consecrated life for the glory of God.