A Grace-Shaped Life: Romans 9-16Sample

How Then Shall We Live?

Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. (Romans 12:1).

In Romans, chapters 1-11, Paul shows that God’s mercies in Christ to us are undeserved, unearned, and beyond description. All we can say is, “To him be glory forever” (Rom. 11:36). If this is true, how then shall we live, given God’s mercies? Paul answers that question in chapters 12-16.

Life as a believer becomes shaped by the instruction to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice” (v. 1). In the Old Testament, Israel offered a lamb on an altar. The lamb’s blood sprinkled on the base represented the price of forgiveness in God’s covenant with the people of Israel, based on his covenant with Abraham (Gen. 15). Smoke rising from the burnt offering becomes “a pleasing aroma to the LORD’’ (Num. 15:3). Jesus’ death on the cross is the perfect and final sacrifice for sin (Heb. 10:14). Afterward, there is no more shedding of blood. Instead, we become “a living sacrifice.” This is our “spiritual worship” (Rom. 12:1).

To be a living sacrifice means that all our relationships and activities now magnify the one worthy of worship. This begins as we are transformed by the renewal of our minds (v. 2). Notice that we don’t transform our minds. As we spend time daily in Scripture and prayer, God changes us. Our transformation in living this new life becomes an aroma pleasing to God (Heb. 13:16).

As you pray, offer yourself to God as a living sacrifice.