The 40 Day TBC Life Devotion

“Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1, ESV).

In this first verse of Romans 12, Paul begs the church in Rome to see their physical existence as something to be sacrificed to God. All that I am, all that I possess, all that I believe, and all that I do—sacrificed to God. For us it means—this day, this hour, this minute, this moment in time—we give it to God. It is holy—set apart to Him. It is acceptable—pleasing to Him. We give our time, our talent, and our treasure. We give our families, our jobs, and our friendships. We give our sin, our righteousness, and our struggle to love God more than we love ourselves. We give our likes, our preferences, and our comfort. We give our judgments, our criticisms, and our complaints.

This is our spiritual—Greek word: "logikos” (meaning reasonable and logical) worship. In light of the Gospel and the teaching of Jesus, this kind of on-going self-sacrifice makes obvious sense. The word “worship” used here refers to the daily work of the Priests and Levites in the Old Testament. We can understand this phrase to mean then, that our work as New Testament Kingdom Priests is a work of sacrifice—laying down our lives for the benefit of the Lord, the Kingdom, the Church, and the broken and bruised among us.

“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” –Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Describe a time when you gave yourself as a living sacrifice. What’s one specific thing you can do at TBC to demonstrate this verse?

Dave Samples