This is uncomfortable.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship” (Romans 12:1). 

On one hand it isn’t so difficult.  When the Scripture says to offer our bodies, we look at all the places in Romans that it mentions “body” in the context of righteousness.  We see repeatedly that it talks about offering our bodies for Godliness and for not sinfulness.

“Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another” (Romans 1:24)

“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.or we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin” (Romans 6:2)

 “For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13).

Plainly it is about not offering your body as an instrument of unrighteousness.  Paul is going to spell it out clearly:

“Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.  Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh” (Romans 13:13-14).

We don’t offer our hands to steal, our private parts for sexual immorality, our mouths for drunkenness, our mouths for conflict, dissension and jealousy, and more.  From our eyes down to our toes, we are to use our bodies for righteousness.  That is to use our hands to serve others and carry other’s burdens instead of stealing and touching what should not be touched,  to use our mouth to build up and encourage and not tear down or complain, to use our whole body to go places and do things that glorify him.

But then there’s another part that’s disturbing as well.  Not just how we use our bodies but how we treat our bodies.  Do we eat well?  Do we exercise?  Do we avoid harmful substances?  Do we care for our body?

For some people this is easy.  But for others, not at all.  How many people have a few pounds to lose?

Whether it’s how we serve or how we treat our actual bodies, this Scripture declares it is a “living sacrifice.”  For those who grew up in sacrificial times, this word was like an oxymoron, two opposing thoughts.  This is because a sacrifice is something that always dies.  Dead, dies.  As in the life is taken out of it and it is literally, physically dead.

How can anything be alive-dead?  That would not make sense to someone who grew up around sacrifice.  It’s strong terminology and one that we have grown too familiar with.

But it literally means to offer ourselves as in such a way as the actions of the sinful nature are killed within us.  We don’t go as the ascetics and perform self-harm.  But rather we starve out the desires.  We don’t feed them.  As the poem goes,

Two natures beat within my chest,
The one is foul, the other blessed,
The one I love, the one I hate,
The one I feed, will dominate.

Is it comfortable?  Not in the slightest.  It doesn’t use language of sacrifice for nothing.  It means take good care of our bodies.  But even more importantly, using our bodies for works of righteousness and not for self-indulgence.