Life on the Altar

[Rom 12:1]


I had preached my heart out to a group of one hundred students and adults about trusting God and fully surrendering to His will for us no matter how frightening that might look at a youth camp in Trinity, TX last week. I was extremely tired as I made my way back to my hotel room where I sank into bed and began reading the scriptures. I was so tired I drifted off to sleep and then would wake up again to try and read some more. It was during this time that the Lord grabbed my attention.

I was challenged that I called others to give God their yes and do whatever He led them to do but the question put before was I willing to live up to my own sermon. At that point God laid a task before me so gigantic that I found myself chuckling on the inside. I thought I had God figured out in what He was doing to me. I thought it was just a big test to see if I would give my life and my yes to Him to do anything! My thought was that I would say “yes” and pass the test and this whole encounter could be put behind me.

It soon became apparent that this was no a test as I tossed and turned all night long wrestling with God’s mammoth call on my life to trust Him and to follow Him. This was real and the struggle in my soul was agonizing as I labored in prayer giving God my tentative yes and then questioning what He was really up to. I affectionately call this whole encounter with the Lord my “train wreck experience.” That was what it felt like in my heart. Finally in exhaustion both physically and spiritually I knelt at the end of my bed in that tiny hotel room and gave God as firm and clear a “yes” as I could. I laid my life on the altar. The rest of the night each time I would wake up I would ask if the Lord if that encounter had been real. I was assured that it was and slept little as I mulled over what giving the Lord my “yes” might mean.

The following morning I walked to the prayer garden nestled among the pine tree thicket at the Trinity Pines Conference Center located on the shore line of Lake Livingston. In the back of the prayer garden was a small sanctuary with rock walls and wooden benches but no roof. In front of this area was a stage and altar area which was also made out of rock. I sat on one of the benches in the cool east Texas morning pouring my soul out before the Lord like water. I withheld nothing and told Him my life was surrendered to His plans and purposes. Then I walked to the rock altar and got down on my knees and once again surrendered my life, my family, and my ministry on His altar underneath the towering pine trees and the rising sun.

In one way that was exhilarating but on the other hand it was also terrifying. Completely offering your life as a sacrifice to the Lord with no strings attached and with no safety nets to catch you other than knowing you are following His plans and His will can appear frightening. I say appear to be frightening because the reality is He promised to never leave nor forsake us even when we are called to things that are bigger than we are, more challenging than our resources and abilities, and that call us out of our comfort zones.

Kneeling before the Maker of this Universe in that rock sanctuary was refreshing. I know I did not hold anything back and now I get to spend the rest of my days backing up what I prayed. Will I go? Will I do? Will I be? Will I believe? My life offered as a living sacrifice on His altar will answer those questions.

Paul urged us to present our lives has a holy sacrifice on the altar before God which is pleasing to Him and is our act of worship. I have such a long way to go to fulfill this challenge as you do. What response is there for God’s mercy and grace poured out upon us in Jesus Christ. We did not deserve it. We cannot earn it. We surely cannot pay Him back. What we can do is give Him the ultimate worship which is our very lives, all our days, our every talent, our hopes and dreams, our families, our careers, and our bodies laid on His altar as a living sacrifice to Him. That means He can do with us what He pleases. He does not have to ask our permission to call us to do anything or to go anywhere. He is God and Master and we are His creation and loyal servants.

I urge you with Paul to lay your life down. I mean really lay it down on the altar until it is no longer you living but Him living through you. Let Him have His full way in you.

Last week when I had that encounter with the Lord in my hotel room it felt like a train wreck in my soul. I was shaken. My soul was really tested and is still being tested as I work through the long term implications of that encounter. When you lay your life on the altar you are continually reminded that your life does not belong to you anymore. It is His! He bought it and He owns us. That is the least I can give after my soul was redeemed, pardoned, delivered, and reconciled. May you and I ever live on the altar in response to His marvelous grace. May His glory be furthered with such living.