A LIVING SACRIFICE
So Samuel said: “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams (1 Sam 15:22)
Welcome to the second Sunday in the month of the Lord’s venison. Pastor Jide introduced the theme last week and made it clear that the venison that the Lord requires from us is not the tangible stuff like the meat Jacob demanded from Esau. He made it clear that it is obedience to His word and command. Obedience is better than sacrifice.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Rom. 12:1-2)
From the above Scripture, another important venison that the Lord requires from us is our body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. Many today wrongly tag the Lord’s venison to money with the wrong notion that money has to be given to the man of God to receive the Lord’s blessings. Yes, transient resources like money to God are acceptable to Him when coming from a willing heart of body presented to God as a living sacrifice. An evil person’s sacrifice is detestable, especially when it is offered with wrong motives (Prov. 21:27).
He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8)
If you have offered yourself to God as a living sacrifice, you should be able to proudly say like Paul did that you have been crucified with Christ and now live a life that pleases Him through faith. Have a blessed Month as you ruminate on these things
Pastor ‘Dele Odeshi