To put it into comparison, what is a life on earth of 80 years compared to 20,000 years in heaven with God? There really is no comparison when you look at it like that... but, I still feel the need to check out the Greek.
Actually, the Greek has living sacrifices as two words. I was thinking in the Greek it might have been just one word.
- To live (literally or figuratively): life (lifetime), (alive) live (lively), quick.
- To live, breathe, be among the living (not lifeless, not dead)
- To enjoy real life
- To have true life and worthy of the name
- Active, blessed, endless in the kingdom of God
- To live, i.e. pass life, in the manner of the living and acting
- Of mortals or character
- Living water, having vital power in itself and exerting the same upon the soul
- Metaphorically to be in full vigour
- To be fresh, strong, efficient
- As adjective active, powerful, efficacious
thusia (pronounced: thoo-see'-ah)
- Sacrifice (the act or the victim, literally or figuratively): sacrifice.
- A sacrifice, victim
OK, this is going to take just a little more digging. I could be a living victim or a living sacrifice. But I like the concept of being a living victim.
Sacrifice (noun):
- The offering of animal, plant, or human life or of some material possession to a deity, as in propitiation or homage.
- The person, animal, or thing so offered.
- The surrender or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim.
- The thing so surrendered or devoted.
- A loss incurred in selling something below its value.
Sacrifice (verb):
- To offer as a sacrifice to a deity.
- To forfeit (one thing) for another thing considered to be of greater value.
- To sell or give away at a loss.
OK, now to look at victim in the dictionary.
Victim (noun):
- An unfortunate person who suffers from some adverse circumstance.
- A person who is tricked or swindled.
- One who is harmed or killed by another.
- A living creature slain and offered as a sacrifice during a religious rite.
- One who is harmed by or made to suffer from an act, circumstance, agency, or condition.
- A person who suffers injury, loss, or death as a result of a voluntary undertaking.
- A person who is tricked, swindled, or taken advantage of.
So, here's my thought on all this... if I am to be a living sacrifice and a living victim, per se, then I am to be a person who is offering myself to my God daily, CONSTANTLY. I am to be a person who constantly taking a loss for the benefit of others. That may sound a little strange, but that is where the "victim" part comes in. Jesus was a victim at the hands of sinful men. He was sacrificed. And I am to immitate Christ. And if I am immitating Christ, then I am to be a victim of this world for the gain in the next.
I guess that is where the transforming comes in, when this attitude is attained. I guess to follow Christ, you have to be more than meets the eye. Post a comment if you get that one... anyway,
Transform (verb)
metamorphoō (pronounced: met-am-or-fo'-o)
- To transform (literally or figuratively "metamorphose"): change, transfigure, transform.
- To change into another form, to transform, to transfigure.
- Christ appearance was changed and was resplendent with divine brightness on the mount of transfiguration.
Looking at the Greek word "metamorphoo", it looks like metamorphasis. And when I here that, I think of a catapillar turning into a butterfly and a tadpole into a frog. Both go through a metamorphasis. And for me to be transformed by the renewing of my mind, I have to go through a mind-change, which is a repenting of my old ways and turning to new ways, Biblical ways. Well, Johnny Out.
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