In the previous post, we looked at the call to sacrifice, primarily using Romans 12:1 as our jumping off point:

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

So we know we’re called to do it, but we often don’t think it’s a good idea to sacrifice. Sacrifice is often a burden and we do it out of some kind of inner guilt trip.

But sacrifice is actually good for us. It’s something that’s in our best interests, as strange as that may sound. That sounds strange to us because freedom is one of our gods. Because sacrificing something means giving up doing something we want to do…surely that can’t be a good thing, right?

Continue reading →

With raising support for my upcoming church planting residency, I’ve been thinking and talking more about sacrifice recently. I’m calling people to sacrifice and we’re sacrificing in new ways. What does that call to sacrifice really look like, what does it really mean?

Romans 12:1 says this:

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

Cathedral Altar

We are a sacrifice. And not just once, but continually, this is how we worship God. I heard a quote the other day that said the problem with a living sacrifice is that it keep crawling off the altar. A living sacrifice is one that requires constant attention.But do we even get what a sacrifice is? For us rich people living in the first world, we often think sacrifice is what we do with the overflow. After we’ve had our fill, if there’s something left over, we will give it away. We’ll call it a sacrifice then feel good about ourselves. But that’s not a sacrifice at all. Continue reading →