Read Psalm 66:13-15. 13I will come into your house with burnt offerings; I will perform my vows to you, 14that which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble. 15I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals, with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams; I will make an offering of bulls and goats.
The psalmist moves the poem from corporate remembrance and praise to an individual declaration of devotion to the Lord. I will. I will. I will. I will. Corporate worship should never result in the losing of the self, but a finding of the self. The result? Total dedication to God as revealed in the whole burnt offering.
In Christ we no longer find ourselves in the I wills of the psalmist, but rather in Christ’s I wills to us. Our vows and promises to Christ are near meaningless, but his vows and promises to us remain eternally. Our sin offerings to Christ are irrelevant, but his offering of himself FOR our sin is our salvation.
Does to live is Christ leave room for this total dedication to God as the posture of the Christian’s heart? Only when it follows our total dependence upon God’s dedication to us in Christ.
Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
You: Do you make vows to God in hope or receiving is grace?
You in Christ: How does trusting in our union with Christ result in us finding our true self?
Christ in you: Why must our total dependence on Christ precede our total dedication to God?
Pray: Jesus, it is your dedication to me, not mine to you, that saves and sanctifies me. But let me live before you wholly submitted to your grace today and forever. Amen.
To Live is Christ 