Monday

Dying to Live

I heard a speaker give a talk this weekend on the beginning of Romans 12. One of his early points was on the phrase "living sacrifice," and his perspective gave me new insight. I've known the verses for a long time, frankly I've gotten used to them, and I had never thought about how oxymoronic that phrase is...it's really a juxtaposition, and I love to think and write about those, and often do on my blog, so I figured I would with you today.

What does a living sacrifice mean? An alive dead thing? If taken literally you might start wondering about zombies and such. But of course, that isn't at all what Paul is refering to here. The speaker made the point that the world says, "We live to die"--(death and taxes, right?) that that's all there is. But in God's way of things, as modeled by Christ, "We die to live." We certainly see this through the cross, and the resurrection.

He went on to speak about how when faced with a choice to sin and pursue self, or live for God, we are to choose God. It brought to mind many more verses, but also the series we did awhile back on Romans 6. We are to realize that we are alive to God, and our old self is dead to sin, it's no longer our master, and we can present our bodies alive to Him. Using His Spirit, Word, and Prayer as our weapons, we kill the misdeeds of the body. It's a moment-by-moment reckoning....and life is found there. A good reminder for me, and I hope for you.

Dying to Live, that's the Way of The Cross.