Living Sacrifice

Baseball season is in full swing, pun very much intended, and I am so very excited. Growing up and being from Iowa I was a fan of the Chicago Cubs (even though I feel a bit of nostalgia towards the Cubbies still) but now I am a die-hard Rockies fan. Now I know what you are thinking, but I was a fan 2 years ago when I moved out here, not just 6 months ago when Rocktober hit. I just can't wait to get out to a few games and cheer on the Rockies to victory.

One thing in baseball that I really think applies to the Bible as well is the sacrifice fly. Now in this situation, you have a man in scoring position with none or one out. The next person up to bat's goal is to pop one up to the deep outfield in order to let the person in scoring position safely make it to home plate. In doing so, the batter is most likely going to sacrfice himself in the meantime (and by sacrifice himself I mean give himself up for an out).

What a cool thought. For the betterment of the team, someone is willing to intentionally give himself up. This is exactly what Christ did for us and we celebrated this past Easter.

A sacrifice during Jesus' time did not deal with pop flys and baseball, but instead with animals and grains. You see, anytime that someone broke a law of Moses (10 Commandments and beyond), they were required to offer a sacrifice to God as a way of atonement (making up for). When they would offer this sacrifice, it wasn't just their moldy grain or old sheep, but they were required to give the best of what they had. Why? Because this way you will know the severity of what you have done.

In Mark 12:28-34 we encounter Jesus being asked about what the greatest commandment is and he replies that it is to 1) Love God with all of your heart, soul and mind and 2) Love your neighbor as yourself. After the guy who asked Jesus about this heard what Jesus said, he proclaimed that these two things are more important than any sacrifice that you can give... why?

Paul, in Romans 12:1 talks a little more about this. He says that we are to offer our bodies as "living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God" as our "spiritual act of worship". So we are called to follow these two important commandments as a sacrifice to God. WOW!

This is a hard task, it means that we are called to love others, even if we don't like them or want to love them. We are called to treat others with respect, which means not to talk badly about them behind their back and to look out for their general good interest. And we are called to love God more than anything. More than your cell phone, more than your car, more than the new shoes you got, or whatever else you have that you really like. God is to be #1.

Are you offering yourself as a "Living Sacrifice"? If not, what can you do to start?