by Zeke Flores<\/p>\n
Being a “living sacrifice” sounds hard. Few people like the word “sacrifice,” it sounds too much like giving something up that you’d rather not. And a \ud835\ude2d\ud835\ude2a\ud835\ude37\ud835\ude2a\ud835\ude2f\ud835\ude28 sacrifice? Well, that sounds even harder.<\/p>\n
But the more you become one, the less of a sacrifice it seems. What once felt like loss becomes a grateful act of relinquishment. We freely offer our selfish wants, lustful desires, and everyday burdens for Christ, allowing us to focus on the things in our lives that are pleasing to God, leading to a life of purpose. What was once a sacrifice becomes a blessing.<\/p>\n
“And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires<\/em>” (Galatians 5:24).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Zeke Flores Being a “living sacrifice” sounds hard. Few people like the word “sacrifice,” it sounds too much like giving something up that you’d rather not. And a \ud835\ude2d\ud835\ude2a\ud835\ude37\ud835\ude2a\ud835\ude2f\ud835\ude28 sacrifice? Well, that sounds even harder. But the more you become one, the less of a sacrifice it seems. What once felt like loss becomes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[498,1675],"class_list":["post-87542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-effort","tag-sacrifice"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28614,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-a-sacrifice\/","url_meta":{"origin":87542,"position":0},"title":"What Is a Sacrifice?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant Have you ever given serious thought to what it means to sacrifice something? We are familiar with the Old Testament ritual of the animal sacrifices that were required. OK, so a sheep or a cow was sacrificed. But have you read the accounts of the multiple\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/sacrifices-300x211.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":68876,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-sacrifice-of-self\/","url_meta":{"origin":87542,"position":1},"title":"The Sacrifice of Self","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 17, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant One familiar Bible passage is Romans 12:1: \"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice\u2026\" We hear much about \"sacrifice\" and the \"spirit of sacrifice.\" This is all well and good, for our hope of heaven depends\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":94489,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-christs-sacrifice-applied-to-all-people-at-once-or-applied-as-needed\/","url_meta":{"origin":87542,"position":2},"title":"Was Christ\u2019s sacrifice applied to all people at once, or applied as needed?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 12, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton The sacrifice itself was once\u2011for\u2011all, complete, and never repeated. Hebrews 10:14 teaches that Christ's offering is finished, final, and never needs to be repeated: \"By one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.\" The atoning act is complete, final, and historically accomplished at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38432,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/sacrifice-and-drink-offering\/","url_meta":{"origin":87542,"position":3},"title":"Sacrifice and Drink Offering","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 1, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer After Paul encouraged the brethren to do all things without grumbling or disputing so that they could be lights in a dark world, he also wanted to have confidence that, in his own influence, he did not run or toil in vain (Philippians 2:16). He then made\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27227,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-we-be-guilty-of-sin-if-christs-sacrifice-is-eternal\/","url_meta":{"origin":87542,"position":4},"title":"How can we be guilty of sin if Christ’s sacrifice is eternal?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Jesus died for our sins on the cross. Jesus, being God and part of the Trinity, doesn't look at time as us humans. Jesus is infinite and we are finite. So if Jesus died for our sins, he died for all our sins from the time we were born\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49772,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-i-need-to-prepare-myself-as-a-priest-to-fit-into-the-kingdom\/","url_meta":{"origin":87542,"position":5},"title":"Do I need to prepare myself as a priest to fit into the kingdom?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question regarding the practical application of royal priesthood in the upcoming kingdom of God. Recently I got to know one of the elders and preacher in the church. According to him, we are a royal priesthood (referring to I Peter 2:9) and the role of priest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87542\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}