GIVE GOD YOUR BODY

I have been thinking about the significance of Paul’s words in Romans 12:1-2…

“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

Romans 12:1-2 NLT

These words follow Paul’s extended explanation of salvation, focusing on God’s righteousness in the gospel. He did the right thing by forgiving our sin and restoring us to fellowship with Him as His sons and daughters because He made Jesus an atoning sacrifice for our sin.

Therefore (and so – NLT), because of all that God has done in Christ for us, we are obligated to give Him our bodies as living sacrifices. Why our bodies? Why not our lives, or our souls, or spirits? Is there something significant about giving our bodies to God, especially the bodies that are weakened by disease or disabilities, or even age?

Let’s look at our bodies for a moment.

1. Our bodies are the temporary residences in which we live on this earth. They are subject to all the effects of Adam’s sin, including death.

2. Our bodies are the vehicles through which we are tempted to commit sin. We use every part of our bodies to disobey God.

3. Our bodies experience the suffering that debilitates us and affects our moods, attitudes, emotions and even our trust in God. Our bodies are frail and fallible and because we suffer in our bodies, we are thrown into doubt, insecurity, anxiety, and feelings of abandonment and betrayal.

4. Our bodies are also the vehicles of worship. We are prompted, through our senses, to acknowledge God’s greatness and to honour Him for who He is and what He does.

5.We connect with fellow humans through our bodies. We express love and hatred through our bodies. We communicate through language we hear and speak and through body language we see.

6. We are a unit of body, soul, and spirit, created in God’s image to express Him to the world of people around us.

7. Our bodies, though temporary in a fallen world, will be transformed into the likeness of Jesus’ resurrected body when He returns to set up His kingdom on earth.

8. Our bodies become the “Holy of Holies” of God’s dwelling place through the presence of the Holy Spirit when we are made alive and adopted into God’s family through faith in Jesus.

9. Our bodies are the subject and object of so much prayer especially when they go wrong. We spend a great deal of time and effort on focusing on keeping our bodies alive.

It seems, then that our bodies play a significant role in the participation and enjoyment of our salvation both now and in the life to come. Is it any wonder, then, that Paul instructs us to present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice!

Why is this so important?

If we maintain possession of our bodies, we are responsible for taking care of them and for what we do with them. We retain the right to do with our bodies what we choose and must bear the consequences of our choices.

Paul explicitly states that we are to give God our bodies (a deliberate act) as a living sacrifice (for a specific purpose) as an act of worship. Since there is so much bad stuff going on in the world through peoples’ bodies, giving them to God as a living sacrifice is a safeguard against using our bodies for the wrong purposes.

We transfer responsibility for the care and use of our bodies to God and we take responsibility only for obeying His instructions.

God wants our bodies as a sacrifice, not as a loss to us but as an exchange. Jesus gave His body as a sacrifice and received, in return, millions of brothers, and sisters just like Himself. What does He give those who give Him their bodies as a sacrifice?

Paul tells us, in Rom. 12:2, that He will give us renewed minds to know, understand and enjoy His perfect will.

“Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

Now that’s a great trade-off, isn’t it? To know that God’s will, including everything that happens to your body, even the debilitating illnesses, diseases, malfunctions, accidents, etc., that you are suffering, are God’s perfect will for you because He is working on a bigger plan than you know or understand.

When you give God your body as a sacrifice, He is free to work in and on your body, whatever pleases Him for you highest good and to give you back something far better and more glorious than you ever gave Him.

Resurrection day is coming, as surely as the day Jesus rose from the dead. Your permanent body will be perfectly suited to the environment of God’s eternal kingdom. If you give Him ownership of your body now, He will, through it and whatever suffering He calls you to endure, perfect your body to be fully compatible with the realm in which He dwells and reigns.

What am I saying? God wants to take you into a place where you will never question or doubt His goodness, whatever is going on in your body. It’s His now. You gave Him the right of ownership. He bought it at a great price. Now take your hands off His property and allow Him free rein to mould you into the image of His Son even through what He is doing in your body.

I love the words of Joni Eareckson Tada, when she was struggling with an infection of Covid-19…

During her darkness, the Lord asked her, “Joni, do you trust me?” She responded, “Yes, Lord, I believe.” In the days following this encounter, she developed a strange calmness, “almost an indifference” she said, “to what it would feel like and how it would end.”

She felt Him drawing her into His shelter and resting under the shadow of the Almighty.

Quoting the writings of another sufferer (I could not identify the name on the video), she said, “When the suffering soul reaches a place of calm, sweet carelessness, when he can inwardly smile at his (own) suffering and not even ask to be delivered, then it begins to work its blessed ministry. Then the cross we are carrying begins to weave itself into a crown.”

In conclusion, said Joni,

“When we give our suffering over to God, and sink ourselves into His will, He will make every pain work its divine purpose in our lives.”

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”

James 1:2-4 NLT

No more interfering with His working in you, then, through begging, pleading, believing for, crying, whining, or thinking that healing is the only right and best outcome for you. God’s will is good, pleasing and perfect for you. Celebrate His will with joy through your pain and let’s see what God can do.