As you read the title verse for today, have you ever viewed your living sacrifice to God as your 24/7 life or have you perhaps even subconsciously relegated your sacrifice to God as your Sunday mornings and perhaps your Sunday nights and if you are real spiritual even your Wednesday nights?
Jesus Christ came to earth knowing that He was coming to die, to die a humiliating, painful death on a cross for the sins of the whole world. That knowledge was always uppermost in His mind, His face was set like flint toward Jerusalem and nothing that the world or the devil could do would be able to prevent Him from fulfilling His destiny on earth. Jesus lived every minute of His life on earth with purpose.
Scripture says in John 17:4, Jesus speaking to His Father, "I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do." Jesus the Lamb of God; the only sinless, living in the flesh sacrifice, did indeed suffer the wrath of God poured out on the sins of the entire world that were now in Christ. "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Corinthians 5:21.
Your sins and mine, every human being that has ever drawn a breath or will every draw a breath have been paid in full by the sinless Son of God, Son of Man, the Sacrificial Lamb of God. And because of the blood of Jesus that was shed in paying the world's sin debt now all who put their trust and faith in Him have forgiveness of sin and eternal life with and in Christ Jesus. He rose again from the grave, conquering death for us, and we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of God until that time that we shall be with Him forever!!! Hallelujah to the Lamb!!!
Yet Jesus also spent everyday of His life, everyday of His three year public ministry on the way to Calvary full of interactions with people. Jesus loves us; every where He went from the dusty back roads of Zion, to the Temple in Jerusalem, to the mountain tops, to the valleys, to the Sea of Galilee, to the Jordan River He healed the sick, He cast out demons, He proclaimed the Kingdom of God was at hand, He hand picked and and patiently taught and explained the Father and Kingdom work to His disciples. He stood up for the down trodden, and sinners and rebuked the self-righteous scribes and Pharisees. He gave sight to the blind, opened the ears of the deaf, touched the tongue of a mute and loosed it, He cleansed the lepers, He fed the multitudes on two different occasions, He saved sinners, raised people from the dead, and He taught everywhere He went, He lived and walked what He talked. He was merciful, forgiving, full of zeal and intolerant of phony liars.
What does this have to do with us? Everything! When we surrendered our lives to Christ, we didn't surrender just a few hours on Sunday, He deserves our 24/7 living sacrifice to live our lives as He did, on behalf of others. Yes that includes our sleeping, eating, going to work lives, remember what He accomplished on His way to Calvary.
The way we accomplish that is to live life expectantly; expecting God to meet with you every morning in your quiet time, expecting God to hear your prayers and answer them, expecting God to have a plan for your life everyday, expecting God to lead us in the way in which we should go, expecting the Holy Spirit to make us aware of the needs of others all around us and to show was what we are to do or say to help meet those needs. We are to live our lives as holy sacrifices to our Holy Jesus, Who will show up when we least expect Him, we are to live our lives expecting to see Him everyday, ready to meet Him face to face. Don't just look for Him on the mountaintops, He is with you wherever you go...
And He is coming again and His reward is with Him. Listen, did you just hear the trumpet call? LifT up your eyes, for your Redeemer draws near!
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