Living Sacrifices

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship." (Romans 12:1)

As I was reflecting this morning on the news that Singapore will be joining the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) by sending around 50 to 60 personnel to assist in military operations there, the words "living sacrifice" in the letter from Paul to the Romans came to mind. I recalled the graphic images of brutal killings in an article on Catholic Online. In its efforts to establish an Islamic Caliphate, ISIS has committed unbelievable acts of cruelty against men and women, young and old.

I began to wonder if the term "living sacrifice" held a deeper meaning in this time when "anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God" because "they have not known the Father or [Christ]" (John 16:2-3).

It dawned upon me that we are called to offer our bodies as sacrifices to the Lord not only in life, but also in bodily death. Yet in both senses, we are "living sacrifices". We are alive even in death because of the eternal life that Christ has given us. God is God of the living, not the dead (Matthew 22:32). Therefore, we need not be afraid of "those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul" (Matthew 10:28).

Indeed, "to live is Christ and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21)

http://www.charismanews.com/world/40931-how-god-is-moving-in-syria-despite-heart-breaking-persecution

EXTRACT

Charisma News: What do you see God doing in spite of all the persecution and what’s being reported?

Jane: We are now experiencing that this is the best spiritual time for Syria and other countries, like Egypt, because as much as their suffering is great, they are growing. We experience how refugees run away from their places because of the bombing from the government. They came to Damascus and to the churches, and they came to find the truth of the real God.

Many of the Muslim families came to our church, and now our church has 2,000 families of refugees. They told us, “We don’t know if this is the real Islam.” We said, “Yes, this is Islam. This is what they teach in Quran.” They said, “We don’t want to follow Muhammad anymore. We don’t want Islam. We want to know the real God.” So we give them New Testaments, and we follow up with them, have meetings, preach the gospel, and then we give them food. Thank God, we saw how He is moving among those families that before we couldn’t reach because they don’t even know there are Christians in this country. They are covered; it’s very hard. So we thank God, because everything happens because of His goodness.