“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.”

In Romans 12:1 the Apostle Paul beseeches the members of the church at Rome to present their bodies as a “living sacrifice.” A living sacrifice is a life lived in surrender to the will of Jesus Christ, rather than a life lived for personal gain. Most of the rest of the book of Romans gives us some idea of what it means to be a living sacrifice. Our verse for today, for example, gives us three items that should be part and parcel of the sacrificial life of a Christian.

First, our sacrificial life should be a life of love without hypocrisy. Hypocritical love is love that is two-faced.  It pretends to be something it is not. It is talk without action. Paul’s teaching is that our love should not be like that. It should be sincere, not fake. The sacrificial life of love surrenders its masks.

Second, our sacrificial life should be a life that abhors evil. Perhaps this seems to some as an “It goes without saying” proposition. Of course, the true Christian should abhor evil. However, we live in a world in which good is said to be evil and evil is said to be good. It’s not always easy to go against the grain and abhor evil. Our sacrificial life of love, therefore, must conform itself to the Word of God and the mind of Christ. This way, we will have the courage of right conviction to help us obey Paul’s command.

Finally, our sacrificial life should be a life that clings to what is good. We must not just abhor evil; we must also cling to that which is good. Once we conform ourselves to the Word of God and the mind of Christ and come to know the difference between evil and good, we should abhor the former and cling to the latter. The sacrificial life of love is not allowed to be half-hearted in these matters.

The sacrificial life is not easy. Sacrifice means giving up something valuable now for something even more worthy in the future. We are called “living sacrifices” because we don’t give up our lives, but we do surrender our wills and our reputations to be of value to Jesus Christ and His Kingdom.

By John Huisman, friend of Bible League International