Everything comes from him;
Everything happens through him;
Everything ends up in him.
Always glory! Always praise!
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Romans 11:36 (The Message)
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Romans 12:1
Several years ago, I chaperoned a mission trip to South Africa with a group of high schoolers.
I remember on one 115 degree day, the mission we were working with was putting on a ministry program for kids. Standing in the middle of a shade-less dirt field, one of the students volunteered to put on a faded, poorly ventilated Magilla Gorilla costume in order to dance through the streets of the neighboring village and encourage children to come to the gathering.
I think about her heat exhausted face afterwards and how on that day, that student was serving as the mouth of Jesus, who was saying, “let the little children come to me.”
And I expect that’s what life as a living sacrifice looks like.
But all of us will have opportunities like that and, as often as not, will choose to refuse the suit.
Which is why it’s such a source of hope and grace that Christ did not shy away from putting on flesh that was not his, and not only living alongside us in our weakness, but dying for us and our weakness, that we too would hear his invitation and join in worship:
Everything comes from him,
Everything happens through him
Everything ends up in him
Always glory, Always praise
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Go in peace