XV.
A Living Sacrifice.
God requires a living, not a dead sacrifice.The time for sacrificial offerings is past. Jesus Christ suffered unto death, even the death of the cross, to redeem us from all iniquity, and to purify unto Himself a “peculiar people,” and make us meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. God now requires, that we should be a complete offering to Him; soul, body and spirit: all we have, all we are, and all we ever expect to be, for time and eternity. We frequently say with our lips, but do we say it deep down in our heart:
“Take my soul and body’s powers;
Take my mem’ry, mind and will;
All my goods, and all my hours;
All I know, and all I feel;
All I think, or speak, or do;
Take my heart, but make it new.”
This is just what God requires; hear the command: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies A LIVING SACRIFICE! holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is this good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Ro. 12:12.)
Again, “Ye are not your own! For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and spirit, which are his.” (1 Cor. 6:19.) The above expresses in general, what is implied in being, “A living sacrifice.” Too many, are content with a sort of wholesale consecration; and too many we have reason to fear, keep back a part of the price. Let us, dear reader, look carefully at our offering, to see, if it be just what God requires, without blemish or spot, or any such thing.