Is My Sacrifice Living?

Abraham built an altar . . . ; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar . . . —Genesis 22:9

This event is a picture of the mistake we make in thinking that the ultimate God wants of us is the sacrifice of death. What God wants is the sacrifice through death which enables us to do what Jesus did, that is, sacrifice our lives. Not— “Lord, I am ready to go with You . . . to death” (Luke 22:33). But— “I am willing to be identified with Your death so that I may sacrifice my life to God.”

We seem to think that God wants us to give up things! God purified Abraham from this error, and the same process is at work in our lives. God never tells us to give up things just for the sake of giving them up, but He tells us to give them up for the sake of the only thing worth having, namely, life with Himself. It is a matter of loosening the bands that hold back our lives. Those bands are loosened immediately by identification with the death of Jesus. Then we enter into a relationship with God whereby we may sacrifice our lives to Him.

It is of no value to God to give Him your life for death. He wants you to be a “living sacrifice”— to let Him have all your strengths that have been saved and sanctified through Jesus (Romans 12:1). This is what is acceptable to God.

---

我的祭是活的嗎？ 

亞伯拉罕在那裡築壇……捆綁他的兒子以撒。 （創二十二9）

這件事正反映出我們所犯的錯誤，以為神對我們最終的要求是死的祭。神所要的祭，是經過死，使我們能行像耶穌所行的：把生命獻上。不是[我願意與你同死]，而是[我願意把自己投入你的死裡，使我可以把生命獻給神]。我們似乎認為神總是要求我們丟棄萬事的！神糾正了亞伯拉罕這個錯誤。這門功課我們一生都得學習，因為死發生在我們身上。神從來沒有叫我們為犧牲而犧牲。他叫我們有所捨棄，是為了叫我們得著所得著的，就是與他共用的生命。所以，問題是要解開捆鎖生命的繩索。一旦藉著與基督同死而解開那綁繩，我們就得以與神相交，把生命獻上，作為犧牲。

你若為了要死而把生命獻給神，對神是毫無價值的。他要你做[活祭]獻上因信耶穌得救成聖而得的一切才智力量，這才是神所悅納的。

祈禱◆主啊，為著今天那蒙你接納的事奉良機，我讚美你。為著你所啟示的真理，讓我每天隨時得蒙你的吩咐，我稱頌你。