Obsessively Good Enough: Day 2

Romans 12:1-2 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

A friend sent me these verses this morning. They are so fitting to what I wrote about yesterday. Right away the word "Sacrifice" stuck out to me. The definition of sacrifice is to surrender a possession as an offering to God. If I'm to present myself to God as a living sacrifice, I must surrender myself as an offering to God. To surrender my personal wants, fleshly desires, and body as a sacrifice to a Holy God who sacrificed Himself for me. I think it would be easy to read this and fall into the trap of believing I must surrender everything for God to love me. I must sacrifice to be saved. But, I don't want to fall into that trap. I don't need to do anything for God. He already loved me and saved me despite my actions. This is the beauty of grace and the Gospel. Jesus died on the cross knowing that Tabitha Gordon would never be good enough. No, I am not good enough to save myself. However, when I made the choice to surrender my life to God and give him the reigns to my future, I became His child. I became His daughter. I belong to God and He holds me in the palm of His hands. Safe. Comforted. I no longer belong to my flesh. Jesus fought the fleshly battle for me. Now, I just need to rest in Him, in the Spirit.

In context of eating, I think a living sacrifice means to put away my fleshly glutonous desires and present myself to God as one who treats my temple as pure, cleaned, and Holy. I don't need to eat to be fulfilled. I am already fulfilled through Jesus. Food can so quickly turn my focus from God and I want to use food as a sacrifice, an offering, to my Savior who gave up everything for ME. FOR ME!

The second word that I underlined was Perfect. No surprise there! For someone who fights in her own will to be perfect, I would want to see this verse as a map to how to be a perfect person. WRONG! Like Benjamin Franklin who dedicated a large portion of his life following a regimented and disciplined schedule, he quickly learned that there is no map or guide to the perfect life. We are inherently imperfect humans. But what happens when we surrender our lives and sacrifice our body, future, wants, and flesh to Jesus? What if we allow ourselves to live with the knowledge that this present world is not the end? That there is something better waiting for us? What if we renew our minds and sacrifice, suffer, and surrender for a temporary life? Well, maybe, just maybe, perfection does exist. More importantly, the perfection of God who guides you to His perfect Will. Once again, I learn that it takes falling down on my face and allowing God to lift me up. It requires God doing the work for me.

Interestingly, I think the verse right after ties the package into a nice little bow.

 "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith". 

There, lies the real problem. I think of myself too highly. But, isn't that everyone's problem? Often, I'm told that I'm too hard on myself. This is true. However, looking at the root, it is another example of placing my strength above God's. Being too hard on myself is essentially putting my faith in my own self. It means that I think I have the same strength and power as God. Ultimately, it's me thinking too highly of myself. To sacrifice and surrender, means to realize you are nothing. It means you know that you are not good enough and you need the help of someone who truly is better than good enough to take what you are sacrificing and bring it to perfection. Whoa!! We have come full circle.

If I am to be a living sacrifice, I must surrender my strength to God and allow Him to bring my food problems to perfection. It is only through Him that I will see victory over my body. He will break down my flesh and renew my mind. He will heal my body through the living foods He has provided. He will strengthen and perfect me to make wise decisions based on my Spirit rather than my flesh. Here I sit, surrendered, making my food choices a daily, living sacrifice.

Perhaps, the real question.... Am I willing to sacrifice my own strength in order to reap the benefits of an all powerful and perfect God?