“You are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple.” 1 PETER 2:5

Living Sacrifices Rom 12:1-5

When Paul tells us to allow our bodies to be living sacrifices for God, does that literally mean our flesh and bones? With all our bodily nooks and crannies, funny angles, parts that work well and those that don’t work so well? Certainly Paul can’t be talking about chronically pain-filled bodies, can he? Is this the sacrifice he wants us to offer to God as a living sacrifice?

If we are thinking about this sacrifice as being similar to the unblemished animals the Israelites were instructed to offer in Leviticus (Lev 1:1-3), then it almost seems like it would be wrong to offer our less-than-perfect bodies to God. But that is not what Paul means. Rather, our bodies are the instruments of the worship of God (Rom 6:13), and this happens through the renewal of our minds (12:2). This is why our bodies are living sacrifices rather than dead, burnt ones.

It is what we do with our bodies, not how well they function, that allows us to offer them as sacrifices. We speak his praises with our mouths and think it in our minds; we lift our arms to point to the heavens; we walk in his way with our feet; we love one another with genuine affection; we hold tightly to what is good; we bless those who persecute us; we share joy; we weep; we engage our bodies—all for the glory of God. We become transformed into the kind of people that God wants us to be by allowing God to change the way we think and then living out the things he calls us to do.

Even when our bodies do not or cannot move at all, they are the instruments of our praise to God because they bear the image of God. We reflect the glory of God’s image in our bodies, and in this, they are the instruments of worship—acceptable in his sight.