(Rom 12:1) I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
You hear so much from preachers and evangelists about the need for Christians to rededicate their life to the Lord after they have strayed. But if you think about it, rededication is something we must do every day. Paul said to present your body a living sacrifice to the Lord. It is an ongoing exhortation because as someone has said . . . the only problem with “living” sacrifices is that they have a tendency to crawl off the altar!
It is so easy to drift away from the Lord: (Heb 2:1) Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. Have you ever been in the water at the beach enjoying yourself when you finally look up at the sand and find you drifted far away from your beach towel? That’s how it is in our relationship with the Lord. Little by little we drift away from our closeness with Him because we get caught up in a sea of details and lose our focus on Christ!
I find that every morning I must present myself to the Lord as a living sacrifice. I can’t rely upon yesterday’s blessings. (Phil 3:13-14) Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Today is a new day and I must look to the Lord for His mercies and faithfulness: (Lam 3:22-23) Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
That Bible study I had last night? That was good but what about today? My devotions were so sweet yesterday but I can’t live on that past meal. Today I need nutrition. If I don’t crack open that Bible in the present tense then I sure will be tense presently! (Pro 19:27) Cease listening to instruction, my son, And you will stray from the words of knowledge.
I want to be close to the Lord. (James 4:8) Draw near to God and He will draw near to you . . . But when you are close to somebody that means you are communicating with that person frequently. You always feel out of touch with someone if you haven’t talked with them in a while. Have we prayed today? Have we told the Lord we love Him? Have we given Him our concerns? Or are we allowing the worries of the day to crowd out our relationship with the Lord? (Mark 4:19) and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. (See Luke 9:23; 1 Cor 15:31)
Rededication is not just for those who have walked away. Rededication is for me, today!
Louie