Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice to God; this is your spiritual worship.    Romans 12:1 HCSB

In this second day of the New Year, many will flock to gyms. Diet programs will see a surge in purchases. And I’m sure so-called diet medications will be in demand.

As Christians, we know the most important goal for us to attain is spiritual health. Paul tells us in our Scripture passage that presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice to God is our spiritual worship. What does this mean? What does it mean to present our bodies as a living sacrifice?

To understand this, we must consider the old and new covenants in the Bible. Hebrews chapter 10 does a good job of explaining this. Under the Old Testament and the Old Covenant Christians had to present animals without spot or blemish or any type of defect as a sacrifice for their sins.

In the New Testament, however, Jesus was the living sacrifice. He faced temptation but lived a sinless life in order to present Himself, without spot or blemish, as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins.

I think many of us fail to realize we also need to present ourselves as a living sacrifice. If we are called to salvation and surrender ourselves to the Lord, we must surrender ourselves completely. We too, must do our best to present ourselves without spot or blemish.

Now, we know we all sin (Romans 3:23). When we are saved, however, it should cause us to want to do our best not to sin. Jesus told us the greatest command was to love Him with all our heart, all our soul and all our minds in Matthew 22:37. If we are truly saved and we truly love the Lord with all we have, our bodies are included in this. They can be presented as a living sacrifice to the Lord.

We are told in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 that our bodies are a temple for the Holy Spirit given to us by God. Jesus paid the ultimate price. Jesus shed His blood and gave His life as a ransom to save us from the bondage of sin and death.

Many make New Year’s resolutions to lose weight for the wrong reasons. We want to look better, we want to feel better. It’s all about us. It should be all about Jesus.

If you have made a vow to take better care of your body in this New Year, I applaud you. I simply ask you to carefully consider your motives. If it’s a selfish motivation, please re-consider. We should be motivated to take good care of ourselves physically, mentally, and spiritually in order to present ourselves as a living sacrifice.

This means we should be careful about what we put into our bodies. This means we should be careful about how we clothe our bodies. We should also be equally careful about what we allow into our minds.

If you consider yourself to be a Christian, your body has been brought for the ultimate price, the blood of Jesus Christ. It belongs to God. It is our duty to take care of it.

Many people will flock to gyms and health food stores motivated by all the wrong reasons. Statistics have shown they will soon abandon these goals and give up.

When we commit to God, we give it over to Him. This means we pray for God to help us to take better care of our bodies. Pray to God daily for willpower and strength. Trust in Him to help you take care of yourself. Be motivated by the fact that your body is what you present to Him as a living sacrifice while here on earth. This is your spiritual worship.

If you want to be successful at getting healthy, do it for the right reasons. Do it to honor God with your body. Trust in Him to help you with this.

Have a great day!