How Can I Present My Body as a Living Sacrifice to God?

The term “bodies” in Romans 12:1 is very general. In writing this, my aim is to try and break it down into parts, that I know I can visualise and then really think about these parts of my body in a logical and orderly way. Hopefully it will break this command down into a way we to be very practical in our application.

Firstly, it has to be said that Romans 12:1 starts off with a “therefore” and as I have always been taught, we should stop and ask what is the “therefore, there for? Well, in this case the apostle Paul has spent the previous 11 chapters explaining about the mercies of God and we would do well to really read and grasp all this as it will provide the motivation and power to do what Paul is urging us to do. Also, once we realise the full extent of the mercies of God it will be logical that we should want to offer up our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to Him. Just a thought; Paul also uses this method in Ephesians. At the beginning of chapter 4, he starts it with another “therefore”, having laid down the theological reasons for the practical application described in chapter 4 and beyond.

So, let’s be orderly and take a look at our body and start from the top and work our way down. I will split each part down into positive and negative. You’ll see what I mean, so here we go:

BRAINS

Positives:
This morning I watched a very inspiring programme about a man with a very clever brain. He uses his intellect to try and help people and also is a Christian who shares his faith with other scientists which I would imagine is very challenging. I’ll put the link to watch this below.

If like me, you wouldn’t consider yourself to be “the sharpest knife in the drawer”, then it doesn’t matter as long as we are engaging our brains in a way that magnifies the Lord and edifies others.

Negative:
I honestly think that the number one way we can fail, big time, to honour the Lord with our brains is through over watching social media, which surely must be the quickest way to become ‘brain dead’!

EARS

Positive:
Not long after I became a Christian, I destroyed my old record collection which consisted of artists like; Motorhead, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and many others, but I think you get the picture. I honestly hate listening to, and I know it’s not probably not the best term but, ‘secular music’. One of my favourite radio stations is K-Love and just as they say, it’s positive and encouraging! I also love to be around positive and encouraging people. The bible also says that we should be “quick to listen and slow to speak”. Using our ears to listen well is a great a thing, especially to people who need someone they can speak to.

Negative:
This morning I read and meditated on Psalm 15 which admonishes us not to slander or backbite. Listening to gossip is not good!

EYES

Positive:
Doesn’t it say that the eyes are like “windows to our souls”. I have to be very careful with what I’m watching. For me, just the sheer beauty of nature is awesome and causes me to rejoice and be in awe of the Creator!
We should also have “eyes of compassion” and see where people are hurting and in need of help.

I nearly forgot to mention about watching sport. Now, I think it is a very good thing to go and watch our son’s or daughter’s playing in say a soccer game. But, is it really a good thing to get embroiled and almost fanatical in watching a soccer game where some of the players are demanding as much as £400,000 per week! We then can also get caught up with a lot of division with regard to who we support and not to mention falling into idolatry. I think sport can be a good thing (see “Feet” below). I just think that watching sport is a mind field and we should tread very carefully!

Negative:
Obviously, there are a lot of negatives, like pornography for instance. I also find a lot of, again, social media, can be graphic. Also, a lot of reels or posts are designed to appeal sexually. So, I must put boundary lines in place.

NOSE

Positive:
This may sound a bit sexist, but I do find a lot of women are better at this than men as they appreciate fine scents. Having said that, just this morning I was walking past a Buddleia in full bloom and I made myself go over and put my nose up to it and it was quite nice really. In a moment, I’m going to take a break from writing this and going to make a homemade curry. I just love to smell all sorts of food. God has blessed us with such a rich variety. You know the more we learn to use our sense of smell, the more we could have many reasons to be thankful. Another example, who doesn’t like the smell of fresh coffee in the morning? Or, if you are not a coffee drinker, freshly baking bread!

Negative:
I used to work with recovering drug addicts and they could testify to this, big time. A wrong use of our nose could be drug taking, like cocaine, speed, heroin and M-cat. Vapes and smoking are also not good for our health, lungs and nasal passages and ultimately can ruin the blessing that are noses were meant to be for.

MOUTH

Positive:
The bible makes it very clear that “the tongue has the power of life and death”. We should use our mouths well. Speak positive and encouraging things.

Negative:
Obviously, speaking negatively to others and even ourselves is not a good thing. Saying rude and hurtful things should be avoided.

NECK

Positive:
Just this second came to me about necks We can be “stiffed necked” in a positive way, when we are determined, not looking to the left or the right but focussed and going full on for the things of God.

Negative:
Being “stiffed necked” can also mean being very proud to the point of arrogance and not wanting to do the right thing.

ARMS

Positive:
Our arms speak very much of strength. When we are working as unto the Lord with all our strength, this is a good thing. When we are labouring hard to do a great job, this is commendable. Some may be called to join the forces and then actual fighting is required. We can use our strength to help those who are weaker and needing help.

Negative:
Fighting and causing harm. Using our strength for vanity like bodybuilding.

HANDS

Positive:
Our hands speak very much of the work we do. God has prepared good works for us to do (See Ephesians 2:10). Right now, I am using my hands to type this out. I can use my hands for so many good things and should be consciously aware of this.
We are called to “lay hands on the sick and they will get well”.

Negative:
Hands can hurt others. Either physically or mentally when we hide behind malicious emails or social media posts. I used to love watching boxing, I guess it is okay because it is legal but is it what God really intended hands to be used for?

GENITALS

Positive:
Our reproductive organs have been designed by God to provide pleasure within the confines of marriage.

Negative:
As I said earlier, I used to help recovering drug addicts and whenever we talked about sex in class, I would say almost every time one brave person would pipe up and say what they were all actually thinking but scared to bring up; “what about anal sex?” they would say. I would always reply that , personally, I think this is wrong and not a godly practice. That part of the body is meant to be the means of an exit not an entry point! Besides it can cause damage. Well, what about oral sex others then quickly fired back. I obviously can’t back this up scripturally but I would say it should be by mutual consent and if it doesn’t cause any physical harm then I guess it is okay. But, the main thing is that sex in marriage should not be selfish but wanting to express our love to our partner. For a balanced view on anal and oral sex within Christian marriage, here are a couple of useful links:

https://www.letsequip.com/should-christians-have-oral-and-anal-sex-in-marriage/

https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-anal-sex-sodomy.html

Sex outside of marriage causes all sorts of problems, not only emotionally but physically with the possibility of sexually transmitted diseases and also unwanted pregnancies.

LEGS & FEET

Positive:
Our legs & feet speak about mobility. God wants us to go to the lost, heal the sick and bring good news to the poor.
Also, and this seems almost frivolous compared to the above, but in contrast to what I said earlier about the dangers of watching a sport like soccer, if we actually got off of the sofa or out of the stand and went and actually played a game ourselves, it would be far more beneficial health wise and also good for team participation and team building.

Negative:
Our legs and feet could take us to all sorts of wrong places. We need to ask the Lord to direct our paths.

I kind of feel I’ve rushed towards the end, but I hope this is helpful? For me it has been. And, I like to spend time thinking about things in a logical and orderly way. If we start from the tops of our heads and work our way down and really take stock of whether or not we are indeed offering each part as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to Him, this will be fruitful and time well spent. What do you think?