But Seek First
What does it mean to present myself to God as a living sacrifice? Every time I think of Romans 12:1-2, a picture pops up in my mind of our basement family room in our first house. Since our basement had a walk-out that faced West, the family room was a bright, sunny place. It had a comfortable sofa and a hand-me-down recliner, along with a small entertainment unit that held our TV and cheap stereo. The kids’ toys were perpetually scattered everywhere, and the sofa was usually full of laundry that needed to be folded. There would be an ironing board, loaded with Dean’s dress shirts (in those days, people had to dress up, and not all shirts were wrinkle-free), waiting to be ironed. It is a picture of a life I wanted—love, family, and a home—but I wasn’t satisfied. A music career was very important to me, I thought I needed it to feel fulfilled, and the two worlds competed. I found myself fighting to make time and energy for both, but the battle was exacting a cost on the whole family. That basement memory is when I first became aware of God teaching me what a living sacrifice was. At the time, I fought the lesson.
If I could have a sit-down talk today with my younger self, I would like to tell her about the foolishness of fighting God’s will, although I don’t know that it would make any difference because I wouldn’t have listened. Today, I know that God, in His mercy, was humbling me by allowing me the results of living according to my own will. Verse 2 of Romans 12 reads: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may approve (Gk: dokimazo) of what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect. Dokimazo means: to examine, test; to prove, approve, to see fit, trying to learn, try them out. It suggests learning by doing; conforming our thoughts to God’s, resisting the cultural zeitgeist, and obeying the word through fellowship with God, asking Him what He wants us to do through His empowerment.
Presenting ourselves to God as a living sacrifice can be an experience both similar and different for us. It is similar in that God’s standard of perfection—Christlikeness—is required for all believers. (Matt. 5:48, Eph 4:13) Because I need to keep concepts simple, I think of this as the attitude of our inner world, which then determines how we act outwardly. Who gets to rule us, God or ourselves? God wants us, not just what we can do for Him. When He has our whole hearts, our actions will fall within His will. So, when the works of the flesh (Gal 5:19- 21) rise up in us—things that motivate us—when we are selfish, when we complain and are ungrateful, when we manipulate and choose to withhold forgiveness, these are just some of the kinds of things in us that need to die. God looks for evidence that His Spirit is ruling our souls: the Fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23), and that His love is motivating us (1 Cor 13).
This experience is different for each of us because God is a personal God and He relates to us individually. I’m reminded of the account in John 21:20-23 that describes Peter, who just had his relationship with Jesus restored after denying Him, being concerned about what kind of death John would die. Jesus said to Peter: “If it my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” In other words, mind your own beeswax! The book of Revelation tells us that we all will stand before God and give an account of our lives. Not the lives of anyone else, but ours alone. Personally, my experience of being a living sacrifice has been to live a quiet life of serving. It is showing up faithfully every day with a grateful heart to do the things that God puts before me to do, relying on His Spirit to empower me. It isn’t flashy or exciting. It isn’t about self-fulfillment. The cool thing is that when I rest in His direction and provision for my life, I experience deep contentment and fulfillment as I serve. This still gets challenged, God will test me to form His Son in me until He graduates me to the next realm. Daily, God deals with my heart to move it from opposition to His will to joyful submission toHim. The specifics of your journey may look different because we are tempted by different things, and our flesh may be hooked by different people and circumstances. But there is a reason for the tests, God wants intimacy with us which comes from complete reliance on and obedience to Him.
Matt 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”