Romans 12:1 “Me?”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹I am urging you, therefore, brothers, because of the sympathies of God, to present your (pl.) bodies [as] a living sacrifice, holy, [and] well-pleasing to God, [which is] your (pl.) logical/reasonable act of worship.

Continuing to work through this seemingly simple passage – what is it the Lord wants us to offer? Our bodies. This one thought bursts with so many applications, I hardly know where to begin.

Just think for a second about this verse itself. After the most thorough and glorious presentation of the Everlasting Gospel of God, then turning to think about our appropriate response, what is the first thing Paul would say to us? “Present your bodies a living sacrifice…”

Now stop and think, how would you or I answer the question, “Based on all Jesus did for us (Romans 1-11), what should we do in return?” I suspect we’d come up with a thousand different answers, yet what is God’s answer? “Live for me.” “Make your life, your living be for Me.” There are 168 hours in a week. We may sleep 56 of them, but what about the other 112? Living for Him is so much more than just “religious” activities. It is a life lived for him – a life of family and work and community and, yes, church, but a life of it all. In 1:27, Paul told the Philippians, “Live your lives worthy of the gospel of Christ.” It’s specifically about how we live our lives.

Interestingly, what then does that involve? It is specifically “our bodies.” Back in chapter 6, he told the Romans, “Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness…Just as you used to offer your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.”

In that passage, we see Paul intertwines the words “body,” “parts of your body,” and “yourselves.” It is a matter of offering yourself, but clearly, there is value in us thinking about it in terms of the body itself.

What is our body? In a sense, it is simply the earthly vessel in which our spirit lives. We live inside our body. It is our body, yet we are all very aware that, somehow, I exist apart from this body. People who claim to have had “near-death” experiences often relate how they rose above their body and were looking back down at it. Whether or not that’s true, it expresses the point I’m making – we all know that somehow we are someone living in our bodies. We take comfort from verses like II Cor. 5:8: “We would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”

The catch is that our body is our connection with this material world. Without a body, we would be unable to see or hear or touch the things in this material world. It is of some amusement to me to think of people as “the person behind those eyes.” We all know there is a huge difference between looking at a person’s eyes and looking into those eyes. When we look into their eyes, we are suddenly aware of the person we’re talking to. We’ve “connected” with them. I would suggest that is because, through our eyes our spirits actually connect.

So we can see that, when Paul refers to our bodies, he is referring to the “all” of us -- yet somehow he specifically wants us to think of our lives with the idea that we’re talking about our body, this thing we use to connect with this material world.

This leads in myriads of different directions. I’ll try to ponder a few.

As I sit here typing, I am doing so with my mind, my eyes, and my fingers. I am connecting with (hopefully) you – but I couldn’t be doing this except that I live in a body. It’s this body. As I sit here, I am too keenly aware it is not the body I had at 26. This body is old and tired and frankly doesn’t work very well. Even as I simply sit here, I can feel aches and pain. This body doesn’t see very well or hear very well. This guy who, when young, had an almost photographic memory, now finds he can’t remember people’s names, though I’ve known them for years! However, this verse reminds me, in spite of all that, God still wants me to offer it to Him. I have no other body. If I don’t give Him this old, tired one, then I have nothing to give!

When He asks me to present my body, I wish I could offer him that bright, young, strong one. But I cannot. This one is the only one I have to give. I must accept that it is not a 26-year old body. It can’t do what it once did, yet the Lord asks me to present it anyway – just as it is today. That means I have to accept what I no longer can do. I have to learn to accept this body and not be dreaming of something that no longer exists. God says to present to Him this one.

It also amazes me that the Lord asks us to present our bodies, knowing it is exactly the body that Paul earlier described in Romans 7. As he described there, this is not a body that wants to honor God! Jesus warned Peter, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” This is an Adamic body. It might be a bit of an overstatement, but it seems to me, according to the Bible, that the body itself really is the seat of our sin natures. Obviously, that sin nature also contaminates our spirits. I suspect the word “flesh” embraces the totality of that problem, so that it is not limited to the body, but sees us in the totality of our rebellious, lustful selves – contaminated body and spirit. Yet, again, it seems the body is the seat of the problem.

God tells us to present that body! When Jesus comes, we know He will “transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body” (Phil. 3:21). However, in the meantime, while we may be born again, yet we go on living in these Adamic bodies. We cannot escape this constant battle of “the flesh warring against the spirit.” It should be of some comfort to us to know the Lord is quite aware this is the body He is asking us to present. If I gave my son a bent screw-driver and asked him to use it anyway, I would not be surprised or even disappointed to find him struggling to make it work. Rather, I would be honored to watch him struggle, seeing his obedient heart that really is trying!

I don’t want to serve God with a bent screw-driver. I could do so much better if I didn’t have to fight my own self all day every day, but He knows. He knows I have no other body to serve Him with – at least for now. And so, we go before Him every morning and say, Here am I. Send me. Heal me. Carry me – then head out into a world where Jesus wants to shine even through our brokenness!

I guess one more thought I’d like to record is that this body is what it is. What I mean is I am who I am. There are things I’m “good” at and things I simply am not. I can beat myself up over all the things I see other people doing so much better than me. Or I can accept that I am who I am – and I’m the only “me” I can present to God – for better or for worse! I could list all the things I wish I was “better” at, but anyone reading this is more than aware of their own personal list. We all have to accept that we are who we are.

There may be a few things we can get “better” at by applying ourselves, but I am personally convinced that is usually a waste of time. God wants me to present this body. My efforts will pay far higher dividends if I focus on my strengths and let others fill in the gaps of my weaknesses. Here again, we have to accept that it is this body.

And so…we turn our hearts to the Lord and say, “Okay, Lord, here am I. I’m sorry this is all I have to offer. I think you deserve far better. However, here’s my bent screw-driver. May You be glorified even in my struggle. In fact, may Jesus today through me everywhere be “a savor of life unto life.” May You help me today to “abide in the vine,” and “bring forth much fruit.” Here am I. Send me.