True Identity Ministries Blog

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship.”

Romans 12:1 NIV

When you read through Romans 12:1 you will find that we are told to present or offer our bodies as living sacrifices. The Greek transliteration for the word present is Paristemi and it means to set at hand, to provide, to place at one’s disposal, to offer, to be present, to stand ready. The Greek transliteration for the word living is Zao and it means to live, to breath, be among the living (not lifeless and dead), to be in full vigor, be fresh, strong, efficacious, active, powerful, and efficient. This passage is telling us that we are to place our selves at God’s disposal, standing ready as a fresh, strong, active, and powerful sacrifice. We are to be in full vigor! That is in full: vitality, strength, energy, robustness, power, potency, exuberance, dynamism, heartiness, and drive.

Seeing this definition has given me a whole new perspective on what God is looking for in a living sacrifice. Take another look; do these words describe the body that you offer God each day? Paul said to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, not a lifeless and dead one. The opposite of someone in full vigor is someone that is lethargic, feeble, and weak. To tell you the truth, I can think of many times that I have had to offer myself as a lethargic, feeble and weak sacrifice because of my own failure and neglect to take care of my body. Not eating the right foods, not getting enough sleep, not exercising. Our hearts and minds need to be stirred to see that as far as it is up to us we need to take care of our bodies and stand ready to offer them to God full of strength, energy, power, and vitality to carry out his purpose. Paul teaches us this very same concept in Romans 6:13. He says, “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.”

Again allow me to highlight some of the words for you from the original language. When he says to “offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness”, we find that we are to Paristemi (to place at God’s disposal) our bodies as Hoplon (a tool or weapon) of Dikaiosune (a condition acceptable to God; integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking, feeling, and acting). Sounds a lot like what Paul was saying in Romans 12:1 doesn’t it?

He is saying to hand over your body as a weapon or tool that God can use for his glory. I desperately want to be a powerful weapon for God’s kingdom. Although it isn’t only about your physical state, some of your effectiveness in the kingdom of God can be dependent on you being full of strength, energy, and vigor. If you have experienced a physical handicap or ailment please be aware that God still wants you to be full of strength, energy, and vigor as far as it depends on you. I am not talking about those things that you have no control over. I am talking about those areas that you know are directly related to the effort and priority you put into taking care of your physical body and health.
All of us need to do what we are physically capable of doing and God will honor it and use it! He just needs our willingness. Working in a gym I see many people come in that are restricted to a wheel chair. They come in and do what they can do to stay healthy. Remember God is looking at our hearts. We can ask God to breathe a fresh breath of exuberance and drive into our hearts that would give us a desire to strive at offering him our body full of vigor, energy, and strength. A body that is holy and pleasing to him as our spiritual act of worship. To offer him a living sacrifice.

xoxo,
Justeina