Let Us Offer Ourselves to God Today!

Hebrews 12:28-29

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.

Yesterday’s Scripture spoke of receiving Christ’s peace that is eternal in the midst of a world that is ephemeral.  Today’s passage also speaks of “a kingdom that cannot be shaken.”  And in light of the gift of that kingdom, we are called to offer “acceptable worship.”  In the new covenant, there is, in a certain sense, only one kind of acceptable worship and that is the worship offered by the Son to the Father in his self-sacrifice on Golgotha. Jesus is the “acceptable sacrifice”.  And yet, amazingly, we are told by Paul that those who are members of Christ through baptism may also offer acceptable sacrifices. Does Paul mean that Jesus has not sacrificed enough?  No.  He means that Jesus calls us to be like him and to make a gift of our lives to the Father and to one another as he has made a gift of his life to the Father and to all of us.  And so, as Paul says, “I appeal to you therefore, brethren, 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). Today, make a conscientious effort to offer yourself to God as a living sacrifice.

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Mark P. Shea is a popular Catholic writer and speaker. The author of numerous books, his most recent work is The Work of Mercy (Servant) and The Heart of Catholic Prayer (Our Sunday Visitor). Mark contributes numerous articles to many magazines, including his popular column “Connecting the Dots” for the National Catholic Register. Mark is known nationally for his one minute “Words of Encouragement” on Catholic radio. He also maintains the Catholic and Enjoying It blog and regularly blogs for National Catholic Register. He lives in Washington state with his wife, Janet, and their four sons.

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