Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate.  Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach.  For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.

 
 
 

Going to Jesus

Daily Thoughts

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Thought for the Morning
11-04

Being A Sacrifice

I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
Paul, in Romans 12:1

From a comment by Uncle Joe in a prayer meeting on February 23, 1992.

Humility was required of those who kept the Law that God gave Moses for Israel. The flesh of man wanted more ceremony, more pomp, deeper philosophical meanderings than God ordained. Israel failed in her covenant with God not because God’s way was difficult but because it was so simple.

When the new and better covenant came, by the sacrifice of Christ, the way of salvation did not become more complicated than before; it became simpler than ever. The covenant became so simple, in fact, that God said through Isaiah that even fools need not err from it (Isa. 35:8). How much simpler could God make the way of salvation than to require no membership in anything other than His family, no ceremony, no proper form, no social status, no talent, no physical strength or beauty, and no money? All that is required in this new covenant is faith in Jesus. Simple faith in Jesus will save a man’s soul, and by his faith in Christ, he will live forever in peace with God.

The animal and food sacrifices God required of Israel were few and very simply carried out, but the very simplicity of those sacrifices challenged the pride of man. How much more does the simplicity of Christ challenge man’s pride? How much easier it has proved for men to slaughter animals and offer them to God than for men to deny themselves and offer themselves to God as “living sacrifices”?

As Uncle Joe put it, “It takes more humility to be a sacrifice than to make one.”

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