March 20

"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." — Romans 12:1.

AMIDST all the darkness with which sin has overspread our moral atmosphere, there are some rays of light darting from above, to penetrate the gloom, and assure us that our restoration to the image, favor, and friendship of Jehovah may be effected; and there is required on our part a personal dedication to that Being from whom we have so deeply revolted. Three things may be observed in this passage.

THE DUTY IT ENJOINS. It is the presentation of a sacrifice to God; not an expiatory but an eucharistical one; not an offering of atonement for sin, but of acknowledgment for a Saviour.

Its nature. "Your bodies." But why is not the soul mentioned? The inferior part of our system is expressly named, to show that nothing is to be kept back from God; we must surrender the meaner as well as the nobler part of our nature; the members of the body as well as the powers of the mind; the casket as well as the jewel.

Its property. "A living sacrifice." Not the dead body of a formal profession, but the living soul of spiritual devotion. How many are there, who, instead of presenting to God the ardor and vigor of their youth, a lively offering, give him their hoary hairs, grown grey in Satan's service, and thus drag the sacrifice to the altar, after it has lost its animating power!

THE DIRECTION IT AFFORDS. It must be voluntary: "that ye present your bodies." There is no constraint, but the love of Christ: no compulsion, but the power of the Spirit. It must be "holy." Personal holiness, and purity of motive and design, are required in every true worshipper of God.

THE MOTIVES IT SUPPLIES. There is the gentleness of Paul's appeal. "I beseech you, brethren." The mildness of affection will do that which the rage of passion never can accomplish. The human heart is better taken in a calm than in a storm. "The mercies of God" should lead us to this act of self-dedication. Here is a fine field for our contemplation; let us range in it, admiring the loveliness and variety of its objects, till we feel ourselves constrained to erect our altar, and present our sacrifice. Another motive is, that such an offering "shall be acceptable unto God;" and it can only be so through the mediation and merit of our great High Priest. Lastly, we are urged by the reasonableness of religion. The words translated "reasonable service," may be rendered, "logical worship:" it is so, as it agrees with all the principles of sound reason, as well as the precepts of sacred revelation.