How are we Living Sacrifices?
Friday’s Verse:
From Romans 12:1 ESV
“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.”
Paul’s “therefore” points back to everything he has just declared in Romans 1–11: our sin, God’s justification of the ungodly by faith alone, our union with Christ in baptism, and the unshakeable love of God in the gospel. The appeal to offer ourselves does not create mercy; it flows from mercy already given. In Lutheran terms: the law of grateful living follows the gospel of free grace.
Under the old covenant, sacrifices were slain and consumed. In Christ, God raises the dead, and so our sacrifice is living: we are slain to sin and alive to God in Christ, yet still walking in the flesh. To “present your bodies” means your whole person—daily routines, work, relationships, recreation—is placed on God’s altar, not occasionally but continually. It is not a dramatic death, but a daily dying and rising with Christ.
The sacrifice is “holy and acceptable” not because of our zeal, but because it is joined to Christ’s once-for-all offering. We do not make ourselves acceptable; we are made acceptable in the Beloved, and then we live from that acceptance. Even when our offering feels weak, God receives it in the name of Jesus.
✝️ A Prayer for Today:
Heavenly Father, by Your great mercy in Christ Jesus, receive this day my body, my work, and my rest as a living sacrifice. By Your Spirit, renew my mind, that I may not be conformed to this world but transformed to serve in love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Luther’s Morning Prayer:
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
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