The focus of this blog is to address marriage topics. I’ve learned that we can in some way apply practically every Scripture to marriage. Romans 12:1 is no exception.
I admit that a living sacrifice has always seemed oxymoronic to me, a paradox. The Old Covenant idea of sacrifice involved death. An animal was killed, a plant had died to produce the needed grain. An altar held dead things, even burnt things.
But through Paul God admonishes us to present a different kind of sacrifice, a living one. How is that possible?
Well, it isn’t easy. As someone has said, the problem with the living sacrifice is that it keeps crawling off the altar. I can relate to that.
So, if we don’t present something dead, what kind of sacrifice is it that God wants from us? Here are a few thoughts.
- The flesh is the sacrifice God wants. The flesh isn’t literal in this sense; it’s an anti-God mentality known in New Testament writings as the flesh. In Paul’s writings, he contrasts the flesh with the Spirit. Walk in the Spirit and we won’t gratify the desires of the flesh. The Spirit is the Holy Spirit that is given to dwell within believers in Jesus. The flesh is the mentality Satan and his kingdom try to induce us with to draw us away from God and compete with the voice of the Spirit.
We’re warned to not quench the Spirit, which is easily done in the marriage relationship. I’ve certainly been guilty of it and we can quench the Spirit in one area while obeying him in another; the devil is a wily one. But the secret is to bring every desire, every piece of our will to the throne of God and submit it to Him.
- Remember the 3 Eds. They help us keep our will and desires under the submission to God’s Spirit.
Yielded. Jesus demonstrated in Gethsemane how to bring a human desire in line with the will of God. He simplified it for us in the words not My will but Yours be done.
Delighted. The psalmist of Psalms 34 revealed the key to having Godly desires and having those desires met. Delight yourself in the Lord, he wrote. When we find our joy in our relationship with Jesus, we also find our desires purified and satisfied. Again, as will always be the case, closeness with the Holy Spirit is most important in the process.
Filled. Paul instructed his readers to be filled with right contents for Godliness. Not with wine, he wrote, but with (that’s right – there He is again) the Spirit. When we’re filled with God’s Spirit, we won’t be filled with ungodly desires, but we’ll have a will that matches up with God’s.
These are some of the tips we glean from Scripture to help us sacrifice what needs sacrificing. As we apply these ideas to marriage, our spouse will be blessed by the benefits of our sacrifice.
May God help us present to Him the sacrifice He wants and our spouse will appreciate.
