Living Sacrifices
Henry was blessed to have a wife named Ruth who was a missionary with him. And as a young Christian, Ruth had seen a vision of herself as a missionary in Africa, but her mother was very against this. She strongly resisted the idea because Africa was such a dangerous place.
Living Sacrifice Response
But one day when Ruth returned home she heard her mother praying and saying, “Lord take care of Ruthie when she goes to Africa and meet all of her needs.” And so she asked her mom what had changed her mind and she explained that she'd gone to a church meeting where a missionary from India had been speaking.
And this lady had said that one day she was standing in the streets of India handing out gospel tracts and an Indian women walked by with two small children. One was healthy and the other was very crippled. And hours later the woman returned along the road without the healthy looking one. So she said to the lady “what happened to the little boy?” and to horror the woman said “I sacrificed him to the gods.”
Shocked, the missionary couldn't help but ask “But if you had to do this why would you sacrifice the healthier of the two?” And the woman said “My God demands the best.”
Ruth's mom, hearing this, heard God saying, “I expect the best”. And she realized that she had to offer her daughter as a living sacrifice. Romans 12:1 talks about offering ourselves as living sacrifices.
Living Sacrifice Call
And so do you see yourself as a living sacrifice? Where you've given yourself so entirely to God that you'll go where he sends, that you will do what he asks?
It's only when we live as living sacrifices that we truly find our calling. It's only when we're willing to sacrifice for God that we actually find the things he wants us to do and the places he wants us to go.
We don't need to sacrifice anybody to death, but a person who is sacrificed to God as a living sacrifice - well, that's one of the most beautiful things you'll ever see.
So perhaps today you want to read Romans 12:1 and offer yourself as a living sacrifice to God. Or if you're a parent, to offer your child a living sacrifice to God so that in all of our lives we may honor him in the way he desires us to.
