28/05/2026
Rev Bheki Madolo: Devotion 28 May 2026
Romans 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God”
Today’s devotion is focused on Romans 12:1 in support of the verse for the week. We will not break down and look at every aspect of the verse. We are looking at; “… in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.”
God’s mercy allowed us to be counted as “God’s children” (John 1:12). Every person in the world has been given the right to be God’s child under the New Covenant. Note that God did not only work with the Hebrews in the Old Testament, we do have examples that mention God working with non-Hebrews, including Africans. Some of the people mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in Mathew chapter one were not Jews.
The verse urges us to offer “ our bodies as living sacrifices.” The concept of a living sacrifice is critical. When doing an animal sacrifice, the animal has no choice. A living sacrifice has a choice. There is also a sense that a “living sacrifice” can forget and or chose to climb down from the altar. There could be many reasons why the living sacrifice chooses to climb down from alter, for example, physical suffering, conflicts, tragedy, disappointments, life not working as planned, life being good outside the Christian family etc.
When we submit our bodies as living sacrifices, we submit everything about ourselves. This include our emotions and the way we conduct ourselves. A Theologian called R.C.H Lenski says we submit our bodies in the“..in likeness to Christ..” and this “..extends also in Christ “resurrection and his life.” This is a higher calling.
The next part of verse says “..holy and pleasing to God.” Holiness can be defined in two ways. Holiness refers to be without sin. The second meaning refers to being “set apart for God’s purpose.” In this case holiness refers to being set apart for God’s purpose. When you are set apart, you have to be conscious that you are a body sacrifice that is well pleasing to God.
I believe that God has a purpose for everyone. It is not only those who are in full time ministry who are set apart. A good example is found in Exodus 35:30-35 “Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the LORD has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 31 and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— 32 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze;…” and
Exodus 28:3 “Tell all the skilled workers to whom I have given wisdom in such matters that they are to make garments for Aaron, for his consecration, so he may serve me as priest.”
Meditations point:
• Often when we find ourselves in jobs and specific positions, and we thank God. Do we ever reflect whether the job and or the position is an assignment from God to reflect His Grace in that environment?
• Do we fulfil the assignment diligently because we know that it is an assignment from God.
A young girl was gang r***d in the Eastern Cape. She gathered her strength and went to the clinic. The clinic staff probably blamed her for the r**e. The clinic did not help her and she was told to go to the police station. She was not given transport. She gathered her strength and went to the police station. The police station let hew wait and no attention was given to her. The police station probably blamed her as well. Her body gave up and she passed on at the police station. The question I asked myself; “was there no committed Christian at the clinic and at the police station?” If there was, it is a failure to understand God’s purpose about our lives in this world.
We have to constantly check ourselves whether are we still at the alter? Secondly, is our sacrifice pleasing to God? God works through his children.
Martin Luther King quote “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”
