(Excerpt from Cheryl Gnagey's Spiritual Healing: The Surrender That Brings Victory, Chapter 9)
"Just like Abraham was asked to sacrifice his own flesh and blood, Isaac his only son, we have an altar of death that we must face as well. And the sacrifice we must bring to the altar is our flesh. These two verses describe it well.
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship. (Romans 12:1)
God is asking for our crucified flesh when He urges us to be living sacrifices. You might be asking what your flesh actually is. What is God really asking for? Your flesh is made up of the body , the mind , our intent, and our thoughts. Our flesh is anything that stands in opposition to what God says. And this is what God asks of us: to put to death anything that is unacceptable to Him. This crucifixion of our flesh unto death, given up as a sacrifice of our living being, is what God defines as worship.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)
This a a huge problem with Christians today. We don't look any different, in most cases, than those who are not believers. The world can barely tell the difference, if at all. We do not stand out; we blend in. We are conformed to the world when we watch the same television shows and movies that the world watches. We are conformed to the world when our CD's, iPods, and radios pump the same kind of music into our minds and hearts that the world listens to. We dress like the world. talk like the world, and think like the world. We take firm hold o the reins of our lives every morning when we wake up, and we don't lay them down until we fall into bed at night. We continue doing what we know is wrong to do. We want the same things that the godless want--more money, bigger homes, all the newest toys--security in all the wrong things. We often are independent, self-sufficient, multi-taskers who have no need for a God who wants to take away our control."
In order for God to have His rightful title of Lord of our lives, we must crucify our flesh. We will make the choice to blend in or stand out. So which one are you? Are you a chameleon who changes with every situation, always protecting himself by blending in? Or are one who, moment by moment, is courageously crucifying your fleshly and worldly drives in order to be the stand out Christian God desires you to be?
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