As you offer yourself to the Lord each day, in worship and as a living sacrifice, how do you see yourself? What image comes to mind, what description would you use?
For some, the answer is pretty bleak: ‘Not much of any use here, Lord. It’s all pretty rubbish really - just a few leftover scraps, not enough to make anything of worth with. But, if you still want me, I’m yours. Not that it’ll make any difference to anyone.’
We need to deal with truth, not despairing falsehoods.
In Romans 6, Paul speaks about what is now true of the person who is in Christ. Encouraging his readers to not offer any part of themselves to serve sin any longer, he reminds them that they are now free to offer themselves to God “as those who have been brought from death to life”.
Here is the Easter reality for each and every Christian - not just the few, the elite who have their act together. No, this is true for all whose faith is in Jesus Christ, without any exception. United to him in his resurrection, the Spirit who raised him from the dead now lives in us.
This changes everything.
No longer are we slaves to sin, such that we are compelled to offer ourselves to it as instruments of wickedness. A sea-change has occurred - life, the life of God, has renewed us, heart and soul. Brought out of death, loosed from its malign design and its corrupting influences, we have been ushered into life in all its fulness.
What that means, says Paul, is that we are now free, each day, to offer every part of ourselves to the Lord as instruments of righteousness. The whole of me belongs to him and every last part of my being can be offered to him and to his righteous plan to renew all creation. My thoughts, words, deeds. My emotions and motivations. All that I hold, all that I measure and make. All that I once believed was broken and beyond repair can now be placed into his holy hands, offered in secure faith.
All this, Paul later says, is a response to God’s great mercies and is truly pleasing to him. He is glad, thrilled even, to receive us as we offer ourselves to him. A sacrifice that is sweet and acceptable to him. Our true and proper worship.
If you’re a Christian, this is who you now are and this is what lies open before you, each morning. A world of potential beckons, through the open doors of his grace. You are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ. No longer under the law but under grace, here is a liberty that is life-changing.
“Offer every part of yourself to him” - because you are his. Holy and accepted. Cherished, released and remade.
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Jesus my Lord will love me forever,
From Him no power of evil can sever,
He gave His life to ransom my soul;
Now I belong to Him.
Once I was lost in sin's degradation,
Jesus came down to bring me salvation,
Lifted me up from sorrow and shame,
Now I belong to Him.
Joy floods my soul for Jesus has saved me,
Freed me from sin that long had enslaved me
His precious blood, He came to redeem,
Now I belong to Him
Now I belong to Jesus,
Jesus belongs to me,
Not for the years of time alone,
But for eternity.
(Norman J Clayton)
