11172024 A Living Sacrifice

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of the God who deserves our eternal service. After all that He has done for us, it is fitting for us to faithfully serve Him with all our being.

There is an enjoyable old movie, called “The African Queen,” starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. It is set in German East Africa at the beginning of World War I. The main characters are a spinster sister Rose who serves as a missionary alongside her brother (who dies early in the plot) and a rough and uncouth riverman Charlie who makes deliveries while serving himself.

When World War I spreads to the African continent, Charlie helps Rose to escape her village. While he is content to wait out the war in hiding, she is determined to fight back. With insufferable pestering, she convinces him to take his boat down the unnavigable river to destroy a German gunboat. The journey down the river is just as impossible as Charlie had predicted, but against all odds, they somehow make it to the lake and prepare the boat as a weapon.

At this most critical and dangerous time, Rose asks Charlie if he is scared about what might happen when they attempt the sabotage. His answer, somewhat cynical but also tellingly honest, is “I gave myself up for dead back where we started.”

I haven’t watched this movie in several years, but it came to mind recently because of the above quotation. I think it is because I was pondering the idea of sacrifice and Romans 12:1. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

I was thinking about what it means to be a living sacrifice, and the quotation came to mind. I thought it stated the matter very well – it is to give ourselves up for dead back where we started. As others have described it, it is a blank check, signed and handed over to God so that He can fill in the amount.

With this mindset and determination, we can (by God’s grace) continue serving and living for God regardless of what happens. Why? Because we already decided back in the beginning that we were willing to give Him everything. He might not take everything, but even if He does, it is no more than we had consented to in the beginning.

The movie has a successful ending, but it is nothing compared to the successful ending that awaits us as servants of God. The most important differences are that our successful ending is on an eternal level and within a divine plan. When we give ourselves in total surrender to God, we have the hope of eternal reward and of hearing His words, “Well done.” We also will have the blessing of seeing His eternal plan come to fruition as He finally redeems this earth and draws everything to the right conclusion. (Or beginning, depending on how you look at it.)

May God give each of you the grace to faithfully live out your commitment to Him, no matter what happens. A living sacrifice, continuing on until the end. God bless.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA