Presenting Our Bodies

It is important to truly understand that Jesus redeemed the whole person: spirit, soul, and body. One reason for the redemption of the body was so that it might become the temple of the Lord. The Lord is not going to dwell in a temple that has not been redeemed, one that still belongs to Satan. He will not dwell there. Our bodies have been redeemed so that God may dwell in them by His Holy Spirit. They were redeemed by the blood of Jesus.

What is the response that God requires from us? This is where it becomes extremely practical and is very important for all of us to understand. Paul said:

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” (Romans 12:1)

Given all that God has done for us through Jesus’ death on the cross, how are we expected to respond? We are to present our bodies as living sacrifices. Why “living sacrifices”? Paul was contrasting living sacrifices with the sacrifices of the Old Testament, which involved the bodies of animals being killed and then placed on God’s altar as an offering to wipe away sin and guilt. Paul was saying, “Place your body on God’s altar, but don’t kill it. Place it on the altar as a living sacrifice.” Once you have placed your body on God’s altar, it no longer belongs to you. It belongs to God. Everything that was offered as a sacrifice on God’s altar became His.

That is exactly what God asks us to do, to present our bodies to Him as living sacrifices, to give up the ownership of our bodies and to put them in God’s hands.