Offered Alive
“And Aaron shall offer the Levites before the LORD for an offering of the children of Israel, that they may execute the service of the LORD.”Numbers 8:11 (KJV)
When the Levites were set apart for God’s service, something unusual happened. The people laid their hands on them, and then “Aaron shall offer the Levites before the LORD for an offering of the children of Israel, that they may execute the service of the LORD.”
The Levites themselves were the offering. Not an animal on an altar, but living people, wholly given to God, set apart to serve him with their whole lives.
Paul uses that same idea for every believer. “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.” We don’t offer a sacrifice to be saved. Christ was that sacrifice. We offer ourselves because we have been saved.
Your work, your home, your body, your hours: all of it can be an offering. You are a living sacrifice, and that is your reasonable service.
Read it yourself
Read Romans 12:1–2. What does Paul say happens when our minds are renewed?
What would it look like to offer your workday tomorrow as a living sacrifice?
Lord, by your mercies I give myself to you, body and all. Use me in your service. Amen.