A Living Sacrifice

A Living Sacrifice

Jim Elliot wrote in his journal on October 28, 1949: 'He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.' He was 22 years old. Six years later he was killed, along with four other missionaries, by the Auca people they were attempting to reach. But the story did not end there — it multiplied. His wife Elisabeth returned to live with the tribe. Hundreds of thousands of young people read his story and gave their lives to mission service. The 'living sacrifice' that seemed like loss produced a harvest of souls and vocations that continues today. What Jim surrendered he could not keep. What he gained — in eternity and in the lives of others — cannot be calculated.

Paul's appeal in Romans 12 comes after eleven chapters of theology. He begins with 'therefore' — because of everything I've just explained about grace, justification, and the mercy of God — here is the response. The invitation is to offer ourselves as 'living sacrifices.' The tension is built into the phrase: in ancient religion, sacrifices were killed. A living sacrifice must choose to remain on the altar. It is the daily, ongoing surrender of our plans, comfort, and control to the God who holds all things. But Paul calls this 'your true and proper worship' — the Greek is logiken latreia, 'rational worship,' as if this is the only response that actually makes sense in light of what God has done. When you understand mercy clearly enough, surrender begins to look like logic.